NORTHFIELD, VT. — An Amtrak train headed from Vermont to Washington, D.C., on Monday hit rocks that had fallen onto the track from a ledge, spilling the locomotive and a passenger car down an embankment, derailing three other cars and injuring seven people, authorities said.
The Vermonter train, carrying 98 passengers and four crew members, derailed about 10:30 a.m. in Northfield, 20 miles southwest of Montpelier, they said.
“This was a freak of nature,” said Gov. Peter Shumlin.
One of the injured people was flown to a New Hampshire hospital and was being evaluated in its emergency room. The six others went to a hospital with injuries including neck, back and shoulder pains and lightheadedness.
The Federal Railroad Administration said a crew member was injured seriously.
The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating, said board spokesman Eric Weiss. It was sending a small team rather than the full-blown effort made for a fatal Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia in May.
