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Amtrak said it was working with BNSF, which owns and maintains the track, to investigate the cause of the incident.
Of the 128 passengers and 14 crew on board, around 20 people were transported to local hospitals, according to Amtrak
Just after midnight early Monday morning the Amtrak Southwest Chief train derailed roughly 3 miles outside Cimarron as it was heading east towards its normal stop in Dodge City.http://www.dodgeglobe.com/news/20160314 ... r-cimarron" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
According to a release from Amtrak, the train, traveling along Burlington Northern Sante Fe tracks, was going from Los Angeles to Chicago with 128 passengers and 14 employees on board. Amtrak said in the release there are no life-threatening injuries, but that wasn't confirmed by local authorities.
Amtrak says its "Southwest Chief" has derailed 20 miles west of Dodge City near Cimarron on a BNSF track. It tells us 128 passengers and 14 crew members were on board at the time.
Our reporter on scene says several people have have been transported to Dodge City and Garden City hospitals. Amtrak says initial reports indicate none of those on board suffered life-threatening injuries.
An engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail ahead and hit the emergency brakes before the passenger train derailed, a government official told the Associated Press. The train appeared to have been traveling at about 75 miles when the engineer pulled the emergency break.http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/14/in ... ansas.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The tracks run along Highway 50, which has no barrier that would prevent a vehicle from leaving the roadway and driving near or onto the tracks. The road and tracks are separated by a shallow depression.
Authorities were examining tire tracks leading to the rails. The damage did not appear to be intentional, Gray County sheriff's Deputy J.G. Sharp said.
Rail conditions under scrutiny in Amtrak derailment investigation
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Local authorities said they were checking whether a vehicle crash may have damaged the track before the accident.
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National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said Monday evening at a news conference that investigators would review data from cameras and recorders on the train as well as the condition of the rails and crew performance. He put the train's speed at the normal limit of 60 mph.
Weener said there was some initial indication of a "misalignment" on the rail, but it was unclear what that was or what caused it. He said the engineer was vigilant and noticed the variation on the track, causing him to brake. The track was inspected last week, Weener said.
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The train, which had about 130 passengers and 14 crew members, was making a 43-hour journey from Los Angeles to Chicago when it derailed shortly after midnight along a straight stretch of tracks in flat farmland near Cimarron, a small community about 160 miles west of Wichita. Eight cars derailed, and four of them ended up on their sides.
Thirty-two people were taken to hospitals for treatment. Four of them remained hospitalized Monday night, including two people who were airlifted to Amarillo, Texas. The rest had been released.
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Andy Williams, a spokesman for BNSF Railway, which owns the track, said the derailment was not caused by poorly maintained track. He said the track is inspected twice a week and meets Federal Railroad Administration guidelines.
The future of the Southwest Chief service — the only Amtrak route through Kansas, with stops at six cities — had been uncertain in recent years. Amtrak had warned it might stop or reroute the line because of disputes over who would pay to install safety technology, but officials reached a deal last year.