MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating the derailment in central Vermont of a Washington, D.C.-bound Amtrak train after it hit rocks that had fallen onto the tracks, sending two cars down an embankment and injuring seven people, the head of Amtrak said Tuesday.
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One of the injured people was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire and was being evaluated in the emergency room, spokesman Rick Adams said.
Bob Redmond, of Bay City, Michigan, was sitting in the front row of the third vehicle while on a foliage tour when the train derailed.
After the derailment of Train 55, reported to local authorities at 10:30 a.m., one crew member was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, the Federal Railroad Administration said in a statement.
Check back for more information on this developing story.
Governor Peter Shumlin said seven of the passengers have been hospitalised, one air-lifted out and the rest transported by ambulance.
Rocks had dropped from a ledge onto the tracks, officials said at a news conference on Monday.
Three cars that left the track Monday remained upright.
Nate Brown felt a sudden bump, which was quickly followed by more intense bumps while riding on the Amtrak train Monday morning. Emergency personnel on site announced on a loudspeaker that the buses will transport passengers to Norwich University, where a meal is being prepared for them.
“We don’t have all the details, but this track was rebuilt, it was state-of-the-art track”, he said.
An Amtrak derailment in Vermont has sent at least six people, possibly more (reports vary) to area hospitals with minor injuries, Fox News is reporting.
Janice Bradley, another passenger, said the train was “going along and at first it felt like we ran over something”.
“The community just out-poured for us, and we really thank them for that”, Boardman said.
Malone Bridget Davis, a passenger on the train, said that he felt an impact as the braked hard before the accident, as reported by the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.
Passengers helped others out after the crash.
State officials said a freight train had passed over the same tracks Sunday night with no problems.
Individuals with questions about their friends and family on train 55 should call Amtrak’s Emergency Hotline at 800-523-9101. But as the law now stands, 190 miles of the Vermonter route will not be protected by the new system, which can prevent trains from passing stop signals or approaching curves too fast.
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Cranes will be brought in from Philadelphia to remove the engine and cars from the rails beginning later in the week and it is expected that the tracks will be repaired and ready for train travel within a few days. “We are hopeful that those receiving medical care right now will make speedy recoveries”.
