Amtrak train smashes freighter in Chicago

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Map of Amtrak's Michigan state services into Chicago, with the Pere Marquette route shown in red.
Image: Wikimedia Commons - Shadowlink1014, based on map by User:Wapcaplet, modified by Angr..

An Amtrak train collided with a parked Norfolk Southern freight train in Chicago on Friday. 30 people were injured, five of them Amtrak personnel who were most seriously injured.

Amtrak train 371, the Pere Marquette, started in Grand Rapids, Michigan and carried 193 people on board including six crew members. The train was in south Chicago heading towards its destination of Chicago Union Station when the crash occurred around 17:30 UTC. No injuries were reported among the crew of the Norfolk Southern freight train. Amtrak's locomotive, a GE Genesis, was derailed by the force of the impact, although the rest of the passenger train remained on the tracks.

An Amtrak locomotive similar to the one that was derailed.

All Amtrak trains between Chicago and Michigan are currently cancelled while workers remove the locomotive from the scene and perform any needed repairs. A National Transportation Safety Board "Go Team" led by Ted Turpin was dispatched to the scene to conduct a federal investigation into the crash.

Sources

• Press Release: "Amtrak Train Strikes Norfolk Southern Freight Near Chicago". Amtrak, November 30, 2007
• Press Release: "NTSB sending team to investigate Amtrak collision in Chicago". National Transportation Safety Board, November 30, 2007

• "Amtrak Train Hits Freight Train; 71 Hurt" – WBBM-TV, November 30, 2007
• "At least 5 seriously hurt as trains collide" – CNN, November 30, 2007
  

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.