Philadelphia Derailment: 2 Victims Were Amtrak Workers Maintaining Tracks

CHESTER, PA - An Amtrak train carrying more than 300 passengers Sunday and traveling at more than 100 mph plowed into a backhoe on tracks outside of Philadelphia, killing two workers operating the construction equipment, injuring at least 35 others and closing parts of the highly trafficked Northeast Corridor.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

Amtrak train 89 departed from New York and was headed for Savannah, Georgia, when the crash occurred just before 8 a.m. in the Pennsylvania town of Chester, about 15 miles from Philadelphia, Amtrak officals said. The train continued moving for another mile before coming to a stop in another city, called Trainer.

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The backhoe operators were Amtrak employees, according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Aigner Cleveland, spokeswoman for Chester's mayor, Thaddeus Kirkland.

Both workers were on or near the backhoe when it was struck, Ruth Miller, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said in an email to reporters.

Amtrak declined to comment during a brief news conference Sunday on why its workers and backhoe were on the tracks while trains were running.

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, SEPTA, which leases parts of Amtrak's rail system, was told about track work on that stretch of rail, its spokesman, Andrew Busch, told The Philadelphia Inquirer. He said, though, that Amtrak informed SEPTA the maintenance would cause no service disruptions.

The force of the crash derailed the lead engine, crumpled its nose, shattered its windshield and blew out windows in the passengers cars.

Ari Ne’eman, from Silver Spring, Maryland, was in the second passenger car traveling from New York to Washington when the train crashed, he told The Boston Globe.

‘‘The car started shaking wildly, there was a smell of smoke, it looked like there was a small fire and then the window across from us blew out,’’ he said.

Some people rushed out of the train immediately following the crash, passengers said, but most waited on board for about an hour before being evacuated to nearby Trainer United Methodist Church. About 35 others were transported to hospitals.

The accident occurred on the same stretch of tracks as a derailment of a New York-bound Amtrak train nearly a year ago. In that crash, a derailment caused passenger cars to tumble off tracks. Eight people were killed and more than 200 others were injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent personnel to lead the investigation of Saturday's crash..

Linton Holmes, a passenger on the train whose mother lives in New Jersey, told reporters at a press conference that the crash sounded like an "explosion." Windows blew out, she said, and some people were cut and bleeding.

"I called my sister and I called my mom," he said. "I had never seen anything like that before."

Image courtesy @GlennHills