The last Amtrak train derailment was in Washington State in late 2017, when a Cascades train derailed after traveling a hazardous curve at excessive speed, killing three people and injuring 65. An NTSB spokesperson said Sunday that no other trains or equipment were involved in the derailment. A dozen lawsuits have been filed since the Empire Builder jumped the tracks near Joplin last month, but a new arbitration clause on Amtrak’s tickets could derail those efforts. The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team to investigate what happened. Lawsuits pile up as inquiry into fatal Amtrak wreck continues. i2QgZkdGWn- Jacob Cordeiro? September 26, 2021 More photos from Empire Builder derailment. We will release more information as we get it. Sounds like there is an Amtrak derailment along the Hi-Line. Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn offered his condolences to the victims and said the company was cooperating with federal investigators to determine the cause of the accident. Eight cars derailed, including at least four cars which fell over on their side after leaving the tracks. Amtrak has identified the locomotive that derailed near a town in Washington states Pierce County as the Amtrak Cascades train, which runs between Vancouver, Canada, and Eugene-Springfield. In a statement on Sunday, Amtrak said that 141 passengers and 16 crew members were aboard the derailed train, Empire Builder 7/27, which consisted of two locomotives and ten cars, and was traveling from Chicago to Seattle. More from #empirebuilder derailment /SIAwNmmC5d- Jacob Cordeiro? September 26, 2021 Most of the injured were treated and released at Montana hospitals, but seven people remained hospitalized on Sunday, including two who remained in the ICU, according to the Associated Press. The survivors all either walked away or were rescued from the train. Three people were killed in the accident, the Liberty County Sheriff’s office confirmed on Saturday. wNo0YtzeZ3- Megan Vandervest September 25, 2021 near the town of Joplin, is not yet clear. The cause of the derailment, which happened around 4 p.m. The images showed sunny skies, and it appeared the accident occurred along a straight section of tracks.Amtrak Empire Builder 7/27 after it derailed in Montana on September 26.Īn Amtrak passenger train derailed in a remote part of northern Montana on Saturday afternoon, killing at least three people and injuring more than 50 others. Passengers were standing alongside the tracks, some carrying luggage. An Amtrak train derailed in Washington state this morning, leaving at least one of the cars dangling from an overpass over a highway, officials said. Photos posted to social media showed several cars on their sides. Amtrak train derails in Washington state. Speaking from the Liberty County Senior Center, where passengers were being taken, Vandervest said it felt like “extreme turbulence on a plane”.Īmtrak was working with the local authorities to transport injured passengers and safely evacuate all other passengers, Abrams added. She told the Times that the car behind hers was tilted over, the one behind that was entirely tipped over, and the three cars behind that “had completely fallen off the tracks and were detached from the train”. “My first thought was that we were derailing because, to be honest, I have anxiety and I had heard stories about trains derailing,” said Vandervest, who is from Minneapolis. Megan Vandervest, a passenger on the train who was going to visit a friend in Seattle, told The New York Times that she was awakened by the derailment. The train had about 147 passengers and 13 crew members onboard, Abrams said. The accident scene is about 150 miles (241 kilometres) north of Helena and about 30 miles (48 kilometres) from the border with Canada. The Empire Builder train derailed at 4pm near Joplin, a town of about 200, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said in a statement. People trapped aboard soon after the derailment have all been taken off the train, said the official of the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The National Transportation Safety Board said late on Saturday it will investigate the incident.