An Amtrak train in Savannah, Georgia has been derailed with more than 300 passengers on board. The Amtrak train was backing into the Savannah station Wednesday night when it derailed, according to officials.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DEVELOPING: Amtrak train derails in Savannah, GA with more than 300 passengers on board - AJC</p>— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/948781411447820288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Silver Meteor train #98 was traveling from Miami to New York at the time of the accident which took place around 10:00 p.m. Wednesday. Amtrak Spokesman Jason Abrams said, "All three cars — a baggage car and two sleeper cars — are fully upright."
One passenger named Joel Potischman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he boarded shortly after 9 a.m. in Delray Beach, Florida to head back to his home in Brooklyn, New York.
During the ride, winter storm weather affected the tracks and as the train approached the Savannah station, passengers were informed that a switch had been frozen.
"The goal was to overshoot it and back into the platform," Potischman said. While the training was going past the switch it apparently opened causing the cars at the end of the train to derail.
<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/41cc5bba858f3d221ac213d1380842223fd8c4b473816fd95cde4cfef6eed5a8.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">
<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">Credit: Mike Zevon</span>
According to Mike Zevon, another passenger, only the last three cars derailed and he took a photo showing the view from where he was seated. Zevon said in the picture the 9813 car was about four feet to the left of where it should have been.
"The last car is the baggage car and the other two are sleepers," Zevon said. "No one is injured as of now. The last announcement said they were removing passengers who were ticketed for Savannah and they were still working on a plan to get us up north as safely as possible."
Around 311 passengers were aboard the train at the time of the accident and thankfully, no injuries were reported to passengers or crew. "The train is expected to continue north, with some of the sleeping car passengers being transferred to a different train," Abrams said.
Potischman said the passengers and crew handled the accident very well. "Things are calm. We’re in the car; they’ve not made any announcements about evacuating. We're holding tight," he said.
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Why do we still have amtrak?
Its is faster and cheaper to fly…. and does not cost the taxpayers a bundle every year.