Southwest Chief on the ground in Kansas...

[MadMike1024]

http://rare.us/story/amtrak-train-derails-in-kansas-multiple-injuries-have-been-reported/

Luckily, no fatalities.

[UPSD70ACe]

Wonder what made derail off the Tracks?

[buzz456]

ABC News:
1:30 p.m.

Authorities say they're investigating whether an unreported vehicle crash may have damaged the railroad tracks before an Amtrak train derailed in southwest Kansas.

Gray County sheriff's Deputy J.G. Sharp says there was a separate vehicle accident that may have damaged the rails before the passenger train derailed early Monday outside Cimarron. A few people remain hospitalized.

Authorities are examining tire tracks leading to the train tracks and preserving the scene with crime scene tape, he said.

He says the damage doesn't appear to have been intentional.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at scene.

[Ericmopar]

Seems to be a small epidemic of passenger train accidents lately.

Well it's getting stranger.
The locos and first couple of cars stayed on the track for some reason while the rear cars went rolling over.

[BNSFdude]

It's not all that strange. I've had it happen with running some geeps on crappy yard tracks in SD. 2 lead locomotives made it over a curve (which had almost no ties under the rails) and the 3rd dropped between the rails wide gauge.

[Ericmopar]

It's not all that strange. I've had it happen with running some geeps on crappy yard tracks in SD. 2 lead locomotives made it over a curve (which had almost no ties under the rails) and the 3rd dropped between the rails wide gauge.

Yep...
Track inspections have always made me wonder at times. These inspectors would come along the Mulford Block in the East Bay over the years and not "see" a thing. You'd always wonder why something like rotten ties weren't fixed for years at a time.
One day this local foreman for U.P. got out of his truck in a parking lot near were a friend and I were eating and hanging out waiting for trains. I approached him and showed him whole sections near us, where as many as 6 ties in a row were so rotten, you could kick through them with the toe of your shoe. His eyes got huge and he said thanks. They put a speed restriction on it, and got a work train out there to replace the track entirely about 5 months later.
I ran into him again near the same spot, and he was telling me how S.P. didn't exactly give U.P. and honest assessment of their railroad, when they put it out for sale.

The encounter with the foreman was kind of funny. As he himself kicked a few holes in those rotten ties, he was cursing and muttering in Spanish.

[buzz456]

The world is not a perfect place.

[ZekTheKid]

Aww man there's even that old superliner stock as the headline picture!

[buzz456]

NTSB says feed truck shifted train tracks before Amtrak derailment

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/16/nt ... lment.html

[MadMike1024]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-amtrak-derailment-20160314-story.html

More info...