The train, carrying 98 passengers and four crew members and
traveling from St. Albans, Vermont, to Washington, went off the
tracks near Roxbury, about 20 miles (32 km) south of the state
capital, Montpelier, Amtrak said in a statement.
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.
The rest of the injured, including at least four passengers, were
taken to another hospital with less severe injures.
The remaining passengers were put on buses and taken to nearby
Norwich University, a military college that acts as a Red Cross
evacuation site.
The preliminary cause of the accident was a rockslide that left
debris in the train's path, the FRA said.
One Twitter user, who identified himself as Brian Bell, posted
photographs of a train pressed up against a pile of large rocks.
“Hit a rock slide,” an accompanying message said. Images from others
showed train cars that had slid down an embankment.
Montpelier Fire Department Lieutenant Dana Huoppi told Fox News the
train had five cars, two of which went down an embankment.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it sent a team of four
rail investigators to the scene.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal called for a swift investigation
into the derailment, which occurred on a stretch of railroad owned
and maintained by the New England Central Railroad.
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“Today’s derailment, which left a horrifying zigzag of steel sliding
off the tracks, raises anew important, vital questions about rail
safety and maintenance," the Connecticut Democrat said in a
statement. "It is critical that we learn whether this accident was
avoidable, so that we can ensure that similar tragedies do not
happen in the future."
The incident occurred five months after the derailment of an Amtrak
train near Philadelphia killed eight people and injured more than
200 on May 12.
In February, six people were killed in a fiery collision between a
Metro-North Railroad passenger train and a sport utility vehicle in
Valhalla, a New York City suburb.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney, Barbara Goldberg and Daniel Bases in
New York; Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Writing by Frank McGurty;
Editing by Doina Chiacu and Peter Cooney)
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