29 Hurt as Train Derails En Route to L.A.

An Amtrak train heading for Los Angeles derailed before dawn Wednesday alongside a cornfield, injuring 29 passengers--one critically.

“We heard a loud noise, we started rocking and went over,” said Richard Gray, 51, of Aurora, N.Y., who was in a sleeper car that overturned. “It was kind of eerie when the bottom is up.”

Sixteen cars of the Chicago-to-Los Angeles train carrying 140 passengers and 15 crew members went off the track shortly after 2 a.m. near Carbondale, about 15 miles south of Topeka in eastern Kansas.

One passenger remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition. The others were treated and released.

Amtrak spokeswoman Debbie Hare said five passenger cars, including two sleeper cars, were lying on their sides. Another passenger car remained upright. Ten cars carrying mail and other light freight also derailed.

The cause of the 27-car Southwest Chief’s derailment was not known.

“I was scared. I was afraid we weren’t going to make it,” said 13-year-old Jerilyn Kemmerer of Overland Park, Kan., who was in a sleeper car with her family. “The window was broken and I could feel the gravel coming in.”

At first light, work crews began clearing the tracks during sporadic rainfall.