The crossing is on River Walk Lane, just west of the intersection of Farm Road 193 at Farm Road 199 (both farm roads go by the alternate name of Pleasant Valley Road). That's south of Sunshine Street (Highway D) and southwest of Turners.

The van belonged to Long Refrigeration, a heating and cooling company. Biggs had served two tours of military duty in Iraq.

Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for BNSF, said the westbound train had empty coal cars. He said that type of train typically has more than 100 cars.

The van was southbound across the tracks. A witness who was mowing grass nearby said he talked to the train's engineer, who said he and Biggs were close enough to see each other's faces before Biggs proceeded across the tracks. The witness said he heard explosions after the crash, possibly as many as three.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there have been 11 train accidents in Greene County since 2006. Reasons vary from switches not latched to snow on track.

The crossing where the crash occurred on Wednesday is officially known as crossing 667602K. According to the FRA, no signs or signals are required there, although a sign does mark the crossing and notes it's a private road. Because it's a private crossing, the owner of the road must work with BNSF to maintain it.

FRA records show, on average, about 30 trains per day that go through there. Their speeds range from 1 to 40 mph. Forsberg said the train on Wednesday was going 39 miles per hour.

After the crash, Forsberg said, the train's crew asked to be relieved by another crew.

This is the fifth fatality in Missouri this year from a train hitting a vehicle or a person on a track. Last year and in 2006 in the state, there were 20 fatalities from such crashes and there were 12 in 2007.
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KY3 News' Cara Restelli contributed to this report.