An Amtrak “Vermonter” train hit a patch of rocks on the rails and derailed in Central Vermont on its way to Washington D.C., leaving seven passengers injured.
An Amtrak train on its way from Vermont to Washington, D.C. hit a patch of rocks that had fallen onto the rails on Monday. According to a report from the Associated Press, the locomotive and a passenger car rolled down a hill, and three other cars were derailed.
The train was carrying 98 passengers and four crew members, and seven people were left injured by the crash. The train derailed in Northfield, which is roughly 20 miles southwest of the state’s capital, Montpelier, around 10:30am on Monday.
One of the injured passengers was airlifted to a hospital in New Hampshire, while the other six injured passengers were brought to a local hospital for neck, back, and shoulder injuries. One crew member was also hospitalized, but none of the injuries sustained by people on the train were life-threatening.
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the crash. It is significantly less severe than the Amtrak that derailed in Philadelphia this may, which resulted in a number of fatalities.
The track upon which the train was traveling had been replaced in 2013 as a part of the $220 million New England Central Railroad upgrade initiative. Investigators have no reason to believe negligence or disrepair of equipment was involved in the crash.
Passengers were loaded onto school buses and taken to a nearby armory at Norwich University. Amtrak said it would offer bus service to nearby Springfield station for the passengers on the train.
