(The following story by Tony Sapochetti and Greg Cima appeared on the Bloomington Pantagraph website on April 23.)
NORMAL, Ill. — Jamilah York, a dialysis technician from the Twin Cities, sat in her truck outside the uptown Normal Amtrak station Wednesday while she and her husband, Marvin, waited for his train. | Delayed Amtrak passengers? Contact us | Photo gallery | Video
They were waiting for the 11:43 a.m. train toward Chicago so he could eventually get to Milwaukee, but that time had come and gone — and the 9:41 a.m. northbound train was still parked at the station.
“I don’t want to leave and be at work with him not able to get a hold of me,” said York, whose husband was one of many travelers delayed after a freight train derailed south of Pontiac, temporarily closing Amtrak’s Chicago-to-St. Louis route.
At least four freight cars were left laying on their sides and several others were off the tracks after the Union Pacific train traveling from Lexington to the Prairie Central Co-Op north of Pontiac derailed near Old Route 66 and County 1500 North Road around 9:40 a.m.
The mostly empty northbound 32-car, two-engine train was split into two, with the back half largely derailed and the front half — where some grain was being hauled — left upright and mostly on track.
There was debris strewn across the area, but there were no injuries, authorities said.
Mark Johnson was driving alongside the train on his way to work in Pontiac when he noticed something was wrong.
“I thought for a second that it could have been an optical illusion, but I think now that it was an oscillation of what was going on ahead of it,” he said.
Johnson, who said he was one of the first to call 911, said the derailment happened within 10 to 15 seconds and that smoke and dust from the train made it nearly impossible to see it.
“I dropped my cruise control and then the back car was jumping up and down, and we are talking a few feet here, and then it happened,” he said. “I was literally within feet of watching it happen, and it just seemed like it was in slow motion.”
A crane was scheduled to arrive sometime later Wednesday from either Chicago or St. Louis to help clear the main and side lines, both of which were obstructed by the derailment, Pontiac Fire Chief John Cummins said.
James Barnes, spokesman for Union Pacific, said the company hoped to have the side track operational by 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Wednesday. A time for when the main track will be operational is still not known.
Delays for Amtrak schedule
The derailment caused headaches for travelers on Amtrak’s Lincoln and Texas Eagle service routes. Ten of the company’s passenger trains — five each going north and south — use the same track daily on those routes, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.
One heading each way between St. Louis and Chicago made it through the area before the derailment, he said.
But passengers on the next two trains in each direction, the 302 and 303 Lincoln Service, were provided alternate transportation, Magliari said in a statement.
The afternoon trains from St. Louis and Chicago — the 304 and 305 — were canceled, and passengers were being offered transportation on the 306 and 307 Wednesday night.
The 306 was scheduled for a 8:36 p.m. stop at the station in uptown Normal on its way to Chicago. The 307 was scheduled for a 9:14 p.m. departure from Normal to St. Louis, though it was unclear early Wednesday afternoon how long the tracks would be obstructed.
Passengers on Texas Eagle 22 and Eagle 21, which both pass through the area, were to get alternate transportation.
“Right now, we are aware that some Amtrak traffic is delayed, and you can contact them for more details,” Barnes said. “As for freight, we’re not sure if there’s any impact there.”
For more information on Amtrak delays, contact (800) USA-RAIL or www.amtrak.com.
At the Normal station
Demetrius and Philomena Ballinger were coming from their home in St. Louis to St. Paul, Minn., where they planned to visit their mothers.
Demetrius Ballinger said the couple could have spent less than one-third as much on bus tickets than on train tickets.
But his wife is pregnant and the couple thought a train would be roomier and more comfortable, he said.
Ballinger said around noon that he was told buses were expected to pick them up about 12:40 p.m. and take them to Chicago. The couple was expecting to miss a connecting train in Chicago but take transportation arranged by Amtrak the rest of the way to St. Paul — arriving about five hours later than expected Thursday morning, he said.
“We tried to avoid taking the bus and we end up taking a bus anyway,” Philomena Ballinger said.
Demetrius Ballinger said other people were not told the buses were coming, and they paid for rental cars.
Lois Everett was heading to Seattle and she expected to miss her connecting train in Chicago for the next leg of her trip. Like many others waiting, she left St. Louis about 6:30 a.m.
Everett expressed frustration with Amtrak, saying the company could have called for buses sooner.
“It doesn’t make sense to hold people up this long,” Everett said. “They could have made a decision earlier.”
Everett stood at the Normal station with three other passengers with long trips ahead. Dee Smith said she was heading to Fairfield, Calif., between Sacramento and San Francisco. Anthony Smith left St. Louis to visit Petersburg, Va., and Magdaline Crinur was going home to Minneapolis.
Crinur said she had just visited her newborn grandson, Anthony Thompson, in St. Louis. She said the trip home normally takes about 16 hours.
But Crinur was standing outside the Normal station in the early afternoon, and she said she was supposed to take a connecting train from Chicago at 2:15 p.m.
“This is my last time traveling Amtrak,” Crinur said. “I’m driving next time.”
Authorities said Wednesday afternoon that it was unclear what had caused the derailment. State police said Union Pacific will continue to investigate the incident.