Amtrak Train Headed For Chicago Derails In Michigan
JACKSON, Mich. (CBS) -- An Amtrak train heading to Chicago hit a truck and derailed Wednesday morning in southeast Michigan.
CBS Detroit reports there were no reports of life-threatening injuries to passengers or crew members on Amtrak Wolverine Service Train No. 351, which derailed in Leoni Township, east of Jackson, Mich.
The train had departed from Pontiac, Mich., at 5:05 a.m. Chicago time, and was due into Union Station at 11:24 a.m.
Patti Vitale of Detroit's WWJ Newsradio 950 reported that passengers were bumped around a bit when the train, traveling westbound, crashed into a semi truck stalled on the tracks at a crossing. Six people reportedly sustained minor injuries.
Amtrak said in a statement that the collision caused the engine to come to rest on its side and the first two cars of the train to lose contact with the rails. At the time of the incident there were 71 passengers and five crew members aboard the train, which consisted of two locomotives and six railcars.
A witness talking to the Jackson Citizen Patriot said passengers were just dozing when all of a sudden they felt a huge impact and there was a lot of grinding of metal on metal before everything went silent.
Said another passenger on Facebook, "Wow! On my way to see my daughter and grandson son on the Amtrak and we hit a semi, derail, I almost break my spine. Now I'm in the hospital."
Meantime, service was to be suspended across central Michigan for the next several hours with alternate transportation being arranged for this and other Wolverine Service trains, CBS Detroit reported.
