Investigators ask why train didn't slow

Published: Dec. 3, 2007 at 1:13 PM

CHICAGO, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Federal investigators are examining why an engineer didn't slow a speeding passenger train that hit parked freight cars in Chicago.

Train-track signals warned to slow the train to 15 mph, but the Amtrak train was traveling at 40 mph, investigators told the Chicago Tribune. Seventy-one passengers and crew were injured in the Friday morning crash by the train, headed from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times said. All treated at local hospitals have been released.

"That will be part of our investigation, to try and understand why that signal was not obeyed," Robert Sumwalt, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Tribune.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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