Last night, a northbound Amtrak train traveling north from DC — otherwise known as the train that you probably take all the time if you’re traveling from Baltimore to New York or Philly or points north — derailed outside of Philadelphia in what’s being called the worst rail disaster in the Northeast corridor in years.
At least 6 people were killed and more than 140 injured (out of 243 passengers) when the train went off the tracks for as-yet-unknown reasons around 9:30 PM. It had previously stopped at Baltimore’s Penn Station to pick up passengers at 7:54 PM; it is unclear at this point how many Baltimore passengers were on the train, or whether they suffered any injuries.
A number of people have detailed what it was like to be on the train as it crashed, including an AP reporter who was a passenger.
Trains in the Northeast corridor were canceled today.
Reminder: Train travel is incredibly safe. http://t.co/dLpI98KH02 pic.twitter.com/RxD84Iprk8
— Sam Wang (@SamWangPhD) May 13, 2015
While there have been a number of high-profile train accidents recently, rail travel is still far safer than traveling by car.
UPDATE 4:10 p.m.
The Naval Academy reported this afternoon that a Midshipman was among those who died in the crash. NBC News identified the man as Justin Zesmer.
“He was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful,” Zemser’s mother, Susan Zemser, told NBC News. “Everybody looked up to my son and there are just no other words I could say.”
