ONEIDA COUNTY --
Update:
Around noon Sunday, police and fire responded to the train tracks near River St. in Oriskany where they found some shaken train passengers.
Yvonne Ribinson-Schorer was on the train heading to Niagara Falls. She said, "We were just riding along and all of a sudden we heard this noise and all this fire went flying past us."
Iain Scotchman said, "All of a sudden there was a big bang and the lights went out. And then you could hear all these stones getting thrown up under the train. I though something derailed."
The Amtrak train heading from New York City to Toronto struck some debris on the track. The train started leaking diesel fuel. Some passengers were panicked. Passenger Andrew Lee said, "The woman in front of me got up and screamed. I got up myself and headed toward the back."
There was about 100 people on the train, but no one was injured. People were evacuated and bussed back to the Utica train station. They waited until after 8pm Sunday night to depart. Five other trains were delayed because of the incident.
A CSX train was on the track next to the Amtrak train when the incident happened. Passengers said they thought something from the CSX train may have been in their trains path and caused the problem.
Previous coverage:
The Oneida County Sheriff’s Department says fire and police crews were called to the train tracks near River Street in Oriskany this afternoon. They say a train hit some debris on the tracks and spilled some diesel fuel on the tracks.
The DEC was on the scene and we are told no one was hurt. There were about 100 people on the Amtrak train who were brought back to the station in Utica.
