Update 4:30 PM
An Amtrak train that derailed in rural Montana over the weekend was going just under the speed limit at about 75 mph when it went off the track along a gradual curve. That’s according to federal investigators. They said Monday that the accident may have ejected some passengers. Three people died. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are studying video from the train and another locomotive that went over the same track a little over an hour earlier. The train derailed before a switch in the line, where one set of tracks turned into two. That stretch of track had been inspected just two days before.
AP
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Update 3:00 PM
Federal investigators are examining overturned rail cars and a stretch of tracks as they try to determine why an Amtrak train derailed in rural Montana over the weekend. The accident killed three people and hospitalized seven others. The westbound Empire Builder was traveling from Chicago to Seattle when it left the tracks Saturday afternoon near Joplin, a town of about 200. The train had two locomotives and 10 cars, eight of which derailed. The derailment occurred near a switch in the line, where one set of tracks turned into two, on a stretch of track that had just been inspected. Federal officials were expected to provide an update later Monday.
AP
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Original story:
The deadly Amtrak derailment in north-central Montana of the Empire Builder, traveling from Chicago to Seattle, is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Authorities say there were 141 passengers and 16 crew members aboard when the train left the tracks about 4 p.m. Saturday near Joplin, Montana, a town of some 200 people about 30 miles south of the Canadian border. The NTSB said the derailment on a BNSF Railway main track involved no other trains or equipment. Amtrak said the train consisted of two locomotives and 10 cars, eight of which derailed. The Empire Builder runs through Grand Forks.
PIC: AP
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