GRAY COUNTY-Amtrak officials worked all night and just before 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, placed the last of the derailed train cars back on the track.
The NTSB continues to investigate Monday’s Amtrak train derailment. They expect to be on the scene for a few more days.
The Gray County Sheriff’s Department issued thanks to many who helped during the emergency.
Sheriff Jim Kramer thanked the emergency medical techs, the county fire department, Gray, Ford and Finney County emergency responders and the fire and life care helicopter for all the hard work and working together like a tight fit glove, according to a social media report.
Kramer also thanked his sheriff’s deputies, emergency management and issued special appreciation for the Gray County dispatchers.
Amtrak’s Southwest Chief was carrying more than 140 people when several rail cars derailed early Monday. Authorities say the accident happened moments after an engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail and applied the emergency brakes At least 32 people were hurt, two of them critically.
Local authorities are checking whether a vehicle crash may have damaged the track before the accident
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5:20 p.m.
A federal transportation official says the condition of the track will be the focus of the investigation into an Amtrak derailment in Kansas.
Earl Weener is part of the National Transportation Safety Board. He says it’s too soon to know what caused the derailment and that the train was traveling at the normal speed limit.
Weener says there was some initial indication of a “misalignment” on the rail. But he says it’s unclear what that was or what caused it. He also says the engineer was vigilant and noticed a variation on the track, causing him to brake.
The track was inspected last week. Investigators will also review recorded data from the train.
1:30 p.m.
Authorities say they’re investigating whether an unreported vehicle crash may have damaged the railroad tracks before an Amtrak train derailed in southwest Kansas.
Gray County sheriff’s Deputy J.G. Sharp says there was a separate vehicle accident that may have damaged the rails before the passenger train derailed early Monday outside Cimarron. A few people remain hospitalized.
Authorities are examining tire tracks leading to the train tracks and preserving the scene with crime scene tape, he said.
He says the damage doesn’t appear to have been intentional.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at scene.
12:25 p.m.
Passengers on an Amtrak train that derailed in western Kansas say they feared for their lives.
Dave Gibbs, of Colorado says he was headed to Lawrence, Kansas, for a possible chef’s job when he felt the train “rattling back and forth” early Monday. He says the shaking lasted several seconds before the train began tipping, then coming to an abrupt stop that sent a woman tumbling into him.
Fifty-seven-year-old David Tisdale, of Arizona, says he was “waiting for the worst” and was afraid he was “going to die.”
At least 32 people were injured in the derailment, which happened near Cimarron, a rural community about 160 miles west of Wichita.
Nearly all of the injured were treated and released, but two are in critical condition.
12 p.m.
Officials say two of the people injured when a passenger train derailed in western Kansas are in critical condition.
Caytie Martin, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Texas Healthcare System, says the two were airlifted to the Amarillo, Texas, hospital after the early Monday derailment near Cimarron, a rural community about 160 miles west of Wichita.
Amtrak says 32 people were treated at hospitals and nearly all of them had been released by late morning.
A hospital in Dodge City says it admitted a patient who is in stable condition and a hospital in Garden City says it admitted a patient in good condition.
The train with 131 passengers and 14 crew members was headed from Los Angeles to Chicago. An Amtrak spokesman says one crew member was treated at the scene.
9 a.m.
A passenger aboard an Amtrak train that derailed in southwest Kansas says he felt “shaking” and realized something was “definitely wrong” when it stopped.
KWCH-TV reports that Daniel Szczerba said he was in the front of the train when it derailed early Monday about 20 miles west of Dodge City. Amtrak says the train had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
He says that when he got out, he saw several trains in the back on their sides.
Szczerba says that even though emergency responders arrived quickly to the scene, it was still chaotic for passengers. He says many were wandering around searching for relatives after becoming separated from them while making their way out of emergency exits.
7:45 a.m.
An Amtrak passenger recalls feeling “shaking” before her car and several others overturned in southwest Kansas.
Twenty-one-year-old Kelsey Wilson says she was traveling on the train to return to Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, when she was awoken early Monday. Wilson, of Pueblo, Colorado, says she hit her head as the car became disconnected and overturned about 20 miles west of Dodge City.
She says she escaped through the top of the flipped car and then slid down the side. She said she then “passed out” and was among at least 29 people taken to hospitals for treatment. She was released with a neck brace.
Her traveling companion, 21-year-old Daniel Aiken, of Lenexa, Kansas, says he heard people scream. He said they calmed down when they realized the train “wasn’t going to blow up.”
6:50 a.m.
Authorities say 29 people have been taken to hospitals after an Amtrak train derailed in rural southwest Kansas.
Grey County spokeswoman Ashley Rogers says of the 29 people hurt, none has life-threatening injuries.
NTSB is sending a team to investigate the Amtrak train derailment
in Kansas. More information will follow when the team arrives in Kansas.— NTSB (@NTSB) March 14, 2016
An Amtrak statement says the train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago early Monday when it derailed just after midnight about 20 miles west of Dodge City. Amtrak says the train had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
Rogers says she went to the scene and saw five cars on their sides and two others that were off the tracks but still standing. She says buses and ambulances have taken the passengers who are not hurt to a community building in the small town of Cimarron to wait while Amtrak makes arrangements to take them to their destinations.
4 a.m.
Amtrak now says about 20 passengers have been hospitalized after a train derailment in southwest Kansas.
An Amtrak statement says the train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago early Monday when it derailed just after midnight about 20 miles west of Dodge City.
Kansas Highway Patrol communication specialist Patricia Munford says five train cars are on their side.
Amtrak says about 20 passengers were brought to hospitals in Dodge City and Garden City. All others were brought to a recreation center and will be given alternate transportation to their final destination.
Amtrak says the train consisted of two locomotives and nine cars and had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.
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3:15 a.m.
An Amtrak train derailed in southwest Kansas, sending eleven people to the hospital.
An Amtrak statement says the train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago early Monday when it derailed just after midnight about 20 miles west of Dodge City.
Kansas Highway Patrol communication specialist Patricia Munford says five train cars are on their side.
Amtrak says eleven passengers were brought to a hospital in Dodge City. All others were brought to a recreation center and will be given alternate transportation to their final destination.
Amtrak says the train consisted of two locomotives and nine cars and had about 128 passengers and 14 crew members on board.