An Amtrak train carrying more than 140 people derailed in rural Kansas early on Monday, moments after an engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail and applied the emergency brakes, an official said.
At least 32 people were hurt, two of them critically, authorities said.
Hours later, investigators said they were checking whether a vehicle crash might have damaged the track before the accident.
The train, known as the Southwest Chief, was apparently traveling at about 120kph when the engineer noticed the deformity in the rail and pulled the brakes, a US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to speak publicly about the US federal investigation.
The train, which had 131 passengers and 14 crew members on board, was making a 43-hour journey from Los Angeles to Chicago when it derailed shortly after midnight along a straight stretch of tracks in flat farmland near Cimarron, a small community about 257km west of Wichita, Kansas. Eight cars derailed, with four of them ending up on their sides.
Thirty-two people were taken to hospitals for treatment. Nearly all of them had been released by late morning, Amtrak said.
One crew member was treated at the scene.
The injured included two people who were airlifted to Amarillo, Texas, Northwest Texas Healthcare System spokeswoman Caytie Martin said. They were listed in critical condition.
Authorities were examining tire tracks leading to the rails. The damage did not appear to be intentional, Gray County sheriff’s Deputy J.G. Sharp said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators were also at the scene.
Amtrak did not say how fast the train was traveling when it derailed, nor did it immediately respond to calls seeking further details. Visibility at the accident site was relatively clear at the time of the derailment.
Andy Williams, a spokesman for BNSF Railway, which owns the track, said the derailment was not caused by poorly maintained track. He said the track is inspected twice per week and meets US Federal Railroad Administration guidelines.
Uninjured passengers were taken to the Cimarron Community Center to wait for Amtrak to make arrangements to transport them to their destinations.
The future of the Southwest Chief service — the only Amtrak route through Kansas, with stops at six cities — had turned uncertain in recent years.
Amtrak warned it might stop or reroute the line because of disputes over who would pay to install safety technology designed to prevent traffic accidents caused by human error. The disagreement centered on lines used to route trains through the Kansas City area.
However, officials last year announced a deal in the dispute, which had also threatened to halt Amtrak’s River Runner service between Kansas City and St Louis. Kansas and Colorado also moved in 2014 to secure a federal grant and allocate money for repairs on their sections of the Southwest Chief tracks.
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