Amtrak train derails in southwest Kansas; injuries reported

An Amtrak train heading to Chicago derailed shortly after midnight Monday, sending 20 people to local hospitals, according to the rail agency.

Amtrak said its Southwest Chief Train 3 from Chicago to Los Angeles would detour around the crash scene on Monday, traveling from Newton, Kansas, to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

– October 21, 2012: About a dozen passengers and crew members on an Amtrak train from Chicago to Pontiac, Michigan, were injured when two locomotives and one or more coaches derailed after the train lost contact with the track near Niles, Michigan.

She said buses and ambulances have taken the passengers who are not hurt to a community building in the small town of Cimarron to wait while Amtrak makes arrangements to take them to their destinations.

Spokesmen for the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, which are investigating the incident, declined to comment. Two other cars were still standing, but off the tracks. A spokesperson for Gray County, Kansas, said that none of the injuries were life-threatening.

Some say that authorization is not almost enough for Amtrak to complete its adoption of positive train control, a high-tech system that automatically brakes trains that are running above safe speeds.

One passenger’s mother told local television the derailment followed a period where the train shook at about 75 miles per hour (121 km per hour).

Individuals with questions about their friends/family on Southwest Chief train 4 should call Amtrak’s Emergency Hotline at 800-523-9101.

Daniel Aiken, 21, of Lenexa, Kansas, who was traveling with Wilson, said he heard screaming as he climbed out of their overturned vehicle.

The Amtrak statement said about 20 people were taken for medical treatment. The Red Cross was at the scene providing assistance. “You can tell people are exhausted”, Rogers said.

“A lot of people just looking for family members”, Szczerba says.

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