An Amtrak train has derailed in southwest Kansas, sending about 20 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
In the 21st Century this should not happen…It is safer to travel to the moon and back or to the space station and back! I travel Amtrak because I love train travel but it is not safe any longer…Too many accidents on unsafe trains and they are not bullet trains as they are in Europe. Can you imagine what would happen if we had the high-speed trains here…more accidents? Let’s get with the infrastructure in this country to enchance modern date transportation!
need two man crews
THE BNSF WANTED AMTRAK TO RUN ON THEIR HIGH SPEED RAIL , TRANSCOM THROUGH AMARILLO.
THE BNSF WAS NOT GOING TO RUN THEIR LONG TRAINS THROUGH THE RATON PASS ANYMORE. IF
THE STATES THAT AMTRAK NOW RUNS THROUGH WANTED THE TRACK UPGRADED FOR HIGH SPEED,
THE STATES NEEDED TO FUND THE UP GRADE. DENVER COULD BUS TRAVELERS TO RATON AND GET ABOARD AMTRAK AT RATON TO TRAVEL TO CHICAGO OR LOS ANGELES. THE RAIL THAT AMTRAK IS NOW
RUNNING ON IS NOT WELDED RAIL.
What a surprise. What makes train travel safer when our highway system is in such a mess? The taxpayer funding system for our transportation system has been corrupt for many years. A great deal of the funds available to maintain the highways,bridges etc as been siphoned off into the pockets of political hacks and contractors. The funds available are so enormous that these crooks are brazen enough to know they can ( more than likely) get away with channeling vast amounts to their bank accounts at the expense of already poor road/bridge conditions. So what do they do? They plead for MORE FUNDING because they tell the public they don’t have enough to keep up repairs, etc. And it does no good to expose these CROOKS because they are never held accountable. How can they? Those who would hold them accountable are the very ones who are involved in the THEFT to begin with!
As speed of trains increases, safety may drop. But the tracks surely need to be kept up for safety reasons, and there may be too little funding to take proper care of the tracks. Should the government be put in charge of railroad tracks? How otherwise can funding be found?
How do we know this wasn’t terrorism? Out in the middle of nowhere someone could mess with the track or move a switch and who would know?
There is no information in that story about what caused the derailment. It could be the track was damaged, sabotage, over speed on a turn, no information at all..