Amtrak Cars Jump Tracks in Iowa; At Least 100 Hurt

An Amtrak passenger train en route from the West Coast to Chicago derailed south of Batavia on Monday, flipping three of its 16 cars and injuring at least 100 people, officials said.

Most of the injuries were said to be minor, and no deaths were reported. Fifteen persons were hospitalized.

The combined California Zephyr, Pioneer and Desert Wind, made up of 16 cars and three locomotives, was carrying 394 passengers and 24 crew members when it jumped the tracks about 1:30 p.m., about 80 miles southeast of Des Moines in southeastern Iowa, Amtrak spokesman Patrick Jeffery said.

The cause of the derailment had not been established.

The trains, en route from Seattle, Oakland, Calif., and Los Angeles to Chicago, linked together at Salt Lake City, and the train was traveling on Burlington Northern tracks when it derailed while passing a crossing near Batavia.

Most of the passengers walked off the train but some suffered injuries that required hospital treatment.

Uninjured passengers were loaded onto 10 buses and taken to Chicago or their intermediate destinations, Amtrak spokeswoman Sue Martin said.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the scene Monday night, NTSB spokeswoman Drucella Anderson said.

“The train came flying through at normal speed and started rocking,” said Brett Schmitt, 30, a witness. “It just come off the track is what happened. I saw cars flopping up and down.” He said the accident occurred as the train passed a switch.

Jeff Newton, 27, of Washington, D.C., said he was on the train “because I’m afraid to fly.”

The train rocked violently side to side just before the derailment. When the cars went off the tracks, dishes and silverware flew from dining car tables, and some passengers were thrown to the floor, but there was no panic as riders made their way to safety.

Cindy Nabozny, 32, was in the last car of the train, a sleeper, when it flipped over and was dragged down the track.

“All I remember is I was holding him (her 6-month-old son, William) and my brother screamed, ‘Hold on!’ and we were looking out the window . . . watching the ground go by,” she said.

“It looked awful scary,” Nabozny said. “You watch your life running in front of you. I’m afraid to go up in the air, so I took a train, but I think I’m going to fly back.”

Meanwhile, in Craigsville, Pa., fires continued to flare in three derailed crude oil tanker cars, but most of the 200 people evacuated after the accident were allowed to return to their homes.

About 100,000 gallons of crude oil and an undetermined amount of sodium hydroxide spilled from the cars Sunday night and contaminated an Allegheny River tributary, killing a large number of fish.

Booms and dikes were stretched across Buffalo Creek, and emergency officials said the river would likely be safe for community drinking water supplies.

Authorities lifted the evacuation notice.