Travelers looking to ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder to or from Vancouver are out of luck for most of this week.
An Amtrak train derailment in Montana on Saturday killed three people and hospitalized seven. The derailment has shuttered service between Seattle/Portland and St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota through Thursday, according to Amtrak spokesperson Olivia Irvin. The Empire Builder splits into two trains in Spokane, with half going to Seattle and the rest traveling through the Columbia River Gorge, stopping in Vancouver before terminating in Portland.
The derailment occurred around 4 p.m. Mountain time on Saturday near Joplin, Montana. There were 146 passengers and 17 crew members onboard the train, Irvin said. The train was made of two locomotives and 10 cars, eight of which derailed, a statement from Amtrak said.
Through Thursday, all westbound Empire Builder trains scheduled to depart from Chicago will end at St. Paul-Minneapolis and all eastbound trains will not operate between Seattle/Portland and St. Paul-Minneapolis.
