---
title: "Amtrak Acela Cars Come Undone at High Speed"
description: "No one was hurt in the latest bout of trouble for the passenger railway service."
date: "2018-02-06"
modified: "2018-02-06"
authors:
  - name: "Kate Gibson"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kate-gibson"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/18289/amtrak-acela-cars-come-undone-at-high-speed"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Acela"
  - "Amtrak"
  - "Amtrak Train Derailment"
  - "Boston"
  - "Maryland"
  - "ntsb"
  - "passenger railway"
  - "Washington D.C."
---

# Amtrak Acela Cars Come Undone at High Speed

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/02/gettyimages-161763019-e1517950596904.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

The connection between two passenger cars came undone Tuesday on a high-speed Acela Express train traveling from Washington, D.C. to Boston, prompting the evacuation of 52 passengers near Havre de Grace, Md.

There were no injuries to customers or crew, a spokesperson for Amtrak told *The Drive* in an email. The incident at 6:40 a.m. EST involved a "mechanical issue," the passenger rail service spokesperson added.

Amtrak said it was investigating the cause of the car separating and is inspecting all Acela trains to prevent a reoccurrence.

Amtrak has recorded three fatal accidents since December, when a [train derailment](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/17975/engineer-in-deadly-amtrak-derailment-says-he-missed-sign>) killed three people and injured dozens of others near Tacoma, Washington. More recently, one person died and six were injured, when an Amtrak train carrying Republican lawmakers to a retreat in West Virginia hit a truck on Jan. 31.

The rail service last month tapped aviation industry veteran Ken Hylander to be its chief safety officer, [a newly created position](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/17559/amtrak-names-aviation-industry-veteran-as-chief-safety-officer>).

Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board cited a [failing safety culture](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/16176/ntsb-faults-safety-management-in-train-derailment-that-killed-two-track-workers>) at Amtrak after investigating an accident that killed two track workers in Pennsylvania in 2016.

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