NTSB: Train derailed after wrong switch

NILES, Mich. (WOOD) - The National Transportation Safety Board has released its initial report detailing why an Amtrak train derailed Sunday near Niles.

The NTSB report on Tuesday says the train was accidentally switched off the main track into a rail yard. This caused the train to hit a derailing device that was meant to stop cars from accidentally rolling onto the main track.

The passenger train derailed about 290 feet after the switch and came to a stop 21 feet from an empty ballast hopper car, the NTSB report says.

Two of the locomotives and coaches lost "contact with the track," an Amtrak spokesman told 24 Hour News 8 on Sunday.

The derailed train -- Amtrak Train 350 -- left Chicago Sunday morning, and derailed two miles east of Niles. It makes stops in Niles, Dowagiac, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, with its final destination in Pontiac.

None of the 174 passengers and four crew members were injured. Passengers were bused to the train station in Kalamazoo.

A final report from the NTSB could take several months.