Updated 6 a.m. Tuesday:
CIMARRON, Kan. (AP) Authorities say they’re investigating whether an unreported vehicle crash may have damaged the railroad tracks before an Amtrak train derailed in southwest Kansas.
Gray County sheriff’s Deputy J.G. Sharp says there was a separate vehicle accident that may have damaged the rails before the passenger train derailed early Monday outside Cimarron. A few people remain hospitalized.
Authorities are examining tire tracks leading to the train tracks and preserving the scene with crime scene tape, he said.
He says the damage doesn’t appear to have been intentional.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at scene.
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Updated Noon Monday:
10:40 a.m.
A government official says an engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail ahead and hit the emergency brakes before a passenger train derailed in western Kansas.
The U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation into the early Monday derailment of the Amtrak train says the train appears to have been travelling at about 75 mph when the engineer pulled the emergency brake, slowing the train.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing federal probe.
Amtrak says 32 people were taken to hospitals for treatment and that 29 had been released by late morning. The train was travelling from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Port Jefferson, N.Y., contributed to this report.
9:50 a.m.
Some passengers aboard an Amtrak train that derailed early Monday in southwestern Kansas, injuring 29, say they heard odd noises from the train shortly before the time it left the tracks.
Timothy Davidson of Nashville, Tennessee, said he and others aboard the train heard what he called “a lot of clacking for about 20 minutes” before the accident, as if something came off the train.
He says the train just “didn’t sound right.”
Derek Kemp, who is moving back to Kansas City, Missouri, from California, says he was in a bathroom on the train and using a smart phone app he says tracks the speed of trains. He says the app showed the train consistently traveling 85 to 90 mph in the hours leading to the accident.
Amtrak says the train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it derailed just after midnight about 20 miles west of Dodge City. Amtrak says the train had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
9 a.m.
A passenger aboard an Amtrak train that derailed in southwest Kansas says he felt “shaking” and realized something was “definitely wrong” when it stopped.
KWCH-TV (http://bit.ly/1pizdzG ) reports that Daniel Szczerba (SUHR’-buh) said he was in the front of the train when it derailed early Monday about 20 miles west of Dodge City. Amtrak says the train had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
He says that when he got out, he saw several trains in the back on their sides.
Szczerba says that even though emergency responders arrived quickly to the scene, it was still chaotic for passengers. He says many were wandering around searching for relatives after becoming separated from them while making their way out of emergency exits.
Early morning report:
CIMARRON, Kan. (AP) An Amtrak train has derailed in southwest Kansas, sending about 29 people to the hospital.
An Amtrak statement says the train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago early Monday when it derailed just after midnight about 20 miles west of Dodge City.
Kansas Highway Patrol communication specialist Patricia Munford says five train cars are on their side.
Amtrak says about 20 passengers have been taken to hospitals in Dodge City and Garden City. All others were taken to a recreation center and will be given alternate transportation to their final destination.
Amtrak says the train consisted of two locomotives and nine cars and had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
