Amtrak train derails in Michigan after striking vehicle on tracks

An Amtrak passenger train carrying more than 200 passengers derailed in Michigan on Thursday night after striking a vehicle on the tracks; there were no immediate reports of injuries, the national railroad company said.

Amtrak said the accident happened about 10 pm near New Buffalo, Michigan, a township near Lake Michigan about an hour’s drive east of Chicago. The train, with six crew members and an estimated 218 passengers aboard, had been traveling west to Chicago from Pontiac, Michigan, and remained upright after the derailment, the company said.

No other details about the accident were immediately available early Friday. A police dispatcher for Berrien County, where New Buffalo is located, declined to comment.

Experts say derailments usually happen when a train takes a turn too fast — one reason that automatic-braking technology has been installed on many passenger railroads across the United States in recent years.

Other derailments are caused by faulty equipment. Earlier this year, federal investigators blamed a fatal derailment in Montana two years ago on worn and poorly maintained tracks.