Written by: Stuart Chirls, Senior Editor National Transportation Safety Board investigators say it will be some time before they know why an Amtrak charter carrying dozens of Republicans to a retreat struck a garbage truck at a crossing near Charlottesville, Va., killing one person and injuring others. About 100 GOP members of Congress, some with their families along, were traveling to a strategy retreat at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., when the train collided with the truck about 11:20 a.m. Jan. 31 in Crozet, 125 miles southwest of Washington D.C. A man inside the truck died at the scene despite first aid by lawmaker-doctors traveling aboard the train. Another person in the truck was seriously injured. A local hospital listed one patient in critical condition and another in good condition. Photos taken at the scene show damage to the nose of the Amtrak P42DC locomotive, and the crushed truck lying amid scattered trash along the right-of-way. The track where the crash occurred is owned by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, a Class III short line operating in central Virginia. The crushed garbage truck lies alongside the Amtrak GOP charter in Crozet, Va., Jan. 31, 2018. Continue reading...
