Evidence of Sabotage Seen in Train Crash

A switch that someone apparently tampered with diverted an Amtrak train carrying 187 people onto a siding and caused the train to derail, injuring 74 people, federal investigators said Thursday.

Four people were hospitalized, including the engineer who was at the controls when Amtrak’s Colonial jumped the track Wednesday night.

Chris Hart, the National Transportation Safety Board member who is heading the investigation, said workers found a pair of bolt cutters along with metal shavings that might be from a lock on the siding switch.

“The switch was broken (into) in such a way as to suggest it was tampered with,” Hart said. “We haven’t found the lock yet.”

The accident occurred about 150 yards from where the Colonial derailed in April after slamming into a dump truck at a crossing. The dump truck driver was killed and 57 of 94 people on the train were injured.

James Talley, an FBI agent, said evidence of sabotage was found in the latest accident, but he declined to elaborate.

Hart said the switch had been opened at an angle that would divert traffic from the 79 m.p.h. main line to the 15 m.p.h. siding.

The switch is controlled manually by CSX Transportation Inc. workers, who must get permission to move it from the company’s dispatch office in Jacksonville, Fla., CSX spokesman Jay Westbrook said. CSX owns and maintains the tracks.

The train--an engine, a dining car and four coaches--was within 10 miles of the Newport News station on a run from New York City when it derailed. The engine was left partially on its side and wedged in an embankment, while the other cars remained upright.