30 Hurt in Amtrak Crash

Five were critically injured when an Amtrak passenger train rammed a stopped freight train in Chicago today, the Chicago Tribune reports. Nine more were seriously hurt, including five Amtrak workers, and another 30 suffered minor injuries. Officials, who freed some workers from the locomotive with hydraulic cutting tools, expect the toll will rise to 50 by the end of the day.

Officials didn't know if the 187-passenger train from Grand Rapids, Mich., had missed a signal. "The freight train was on the track it was supposed to be on waiting for its signal," a spokesman said. "The Amtrak train went into the rear of it." A National Transportation Safety Board team is on its way to investigate. (More train stories.)