Amtrak hits semi, derails in Jackson Co

LEONI TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Amtrak has restored full passenger service between Detroit and Chicago, one day after one of its trains slammed into a truck that was stuck on the tracks in southern Michigan.

Wednesday's accident happened in Jackson County's Leoni Township, 45 miles south of Lansing. Authorities say 10 people were injured.

Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester tells the Jackson Citizen Patriot (http://bit.ly/A3p9GP) that police are citing the truck's driver for trying to cross railroad tracks without enough clearance. It's a civil infraction.

There's no phone listing for the driver, 68-year-old David Zimmer of Saugerties, N.Y. He was treated for injuries and released from a hospital.

Amtrak says full service was restored Thursday. It had been using alternative transportation for parts of the route.

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 A Chicago-bound Amtrak train slammed into a semitrailer that was stuck on the tracks in southern Michigan Wednesday, leaving 10 people injured, authorities said.

Amtrak said the engine came to rest on its side and the first two train cars derailed in the incident in Leoni Township, 45 miles south of Lansing. The train, which began its trip in Pontiac, north of Detroit, had been carrying 68 passengers and five crew members.

Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety Director Mike Jester said seven passengers, the truck driver, the train engineer and another Amtrak employee were injured. Jester said no one suffered any life-threatening injuries and that all those hurt were taken to a hospital in Jackson.

Authorities were called out shortly before 8:30 a.m. The truck was carrying equipment for local oil production. Sgt. Richard White of the Blackman-Leoni department said the truck driver indicated the trailer got hung up on the tracks and that he couldn't move it.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reported some passengers were asleep when the accident happened.

"All of the sudden you felt this huge impact, and you hear a lot of grinding, iron on iron," Erik Swanson, a passenger from Pontiac, told the newspaper. "And then it went silent."

Amtrak was providing alternative transportation Wednesday for passengers between Ann Arbor and Jackson so they could board other trains.

Amtrak said Wednesday night that it would provide alternative transportation Thursday for passengers from Detroit and Pontiac to Jackson on the day's first westbound departure. It said it expected full normal service after that.

Norfolk Southern owns the track at the accident site. Company spokesman Robin Chapman said it probably will be sometime Thursday morning before the track is operational again.