(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 12.)
MACK, Colo. — An Amtrak train derailed after running into a pickup-sized boulder, authorities said. Six people were injured, none seriously.
The California Zephyr, en route from Chicago to Nothern California with 106 people on board, struck the 12-foot-by-12-foot boulder late Tuesday just west of Grand Junction, Mesa County sheriff’s spokeswoman Susan McBurney said.
Three engines and three to five cars went off the tracks in Ruby Canyon, McBurney said. The site is near the Utah state line.
An Amtrak spokesman, Clifford Black, said the accident injured four crew and two passengers “in the category of bumps and bruises.” They were treated at a Grand Junction hospital and released, McBurney said.
The other people were being taken to Salt Lake City by bus, Black said.