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Posted by Kindgo (Member # 2) on :

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:30 p.m. ET

KENSINGTON, Md. (AP) -- An Amtrak train carrying about 200 people derailed near Washington on Monday, injuring dozens of people, four critically.

The train, the Capitol Limited en route from Chicago to Washington, derailed at about 1:55 p.m. near Connecticut Avenue, a major through street, authorities said. Temperatures were in the 90s.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators, and experts said they likely would try to determine whether the heat was a factor in the crash.

Six people suffered traumatic injuries, and in four cases the injuries were life-threatening, Montgomery County Fire Department spokesman Oscar Garcia said. Sixty people also suffered minor injuries, the fire spokesman said.

All 13 cars of the train derailed, but not all flipped over, authorities said. Six people were trapped in the cars, but all were freed within an hour, Garcia said.

The train, using double-decker ``Superliner'' passenger cars, left Chicago at 7 p.m. Sunday with about 190 passengers and a crew of 12, Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Van Veen said.

A row of double-decker Superliner passenger cars could be seen lying on their sides, between the tracks and trees along the route.

The track is owned, operated and maintained by freight carrier CSX Corp.

Dan Murphy, a CSX spokesman, said early information shows that the section of track where the derailment happened was last inspected visually on Sunday.

Senior company officials were heading to the scene from their headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.

Former NTSB Managing Director Peter Goelz said investigators will likely look at whether heat was a cause.

``You always have to look at it during the summer,'' Goelz said. ``This is a heavily used line by both freight and passengers. When the track gets up over 100 degrees, you have things called heat kinks (buckles). You have to watch your track very carefully.''

Goelz said NTSB investigators will want to inspect and analyze the track to see if there were any problems, and will want to talk to the engineer to see if he noticed anything awry, and will want to know when the preceding train crossed over that section of track.

He said railroad inspectors regularly check tracks to make sure there are no problems such as buckling, as much as twice a day during the summer.

Steve Colburn, who works at a nearby tire shop, said the accident ``sounded like someone took a big trash truck and was trying to empty it.'' He said he saw several people taken away on stretchers.

A woman identified only as Paula told WJZ that she was heading from Chicago to Washington with her 13-year-old daughter. They both escaped unharmed.

``The way our car fell, we were on the bottom. So, we had to climb out ... onto the top, which was the side of the train, and onto a ladder.''

At Washington's Union Station, relatives waited outside the gate where the train was supposed to arrive.

Katie Klingensmith, 17, of Silver Spring, was waiting with her mother for Katie's 15-year-old cousin, Andrea Mieses of Pittsburgh.

She said her cousin called her cell phone to say she was off the train and all right, but she was muddy.

``First I thought it was a joke ... but it's scary,'' Katie said. The car her cousin was in tipped but didn't fall over, she said.

In 1996, the Capitol Limited and a Maryland commuter train collided in nearby Silver Spring, killing all three crew members and eight passengers on commuter train.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Train-Derailment.html