High-speed train service into and from New York City halted by a derailment and collision Friday in Connecticut will resume Tuesday afternoon, Amtrak announced.

Amtrak will resume service between New York and New Haven, Conn., with the departure of Acela Express train 2171, leaving Boston at 3:15 p.m., and Acela Express train 2166 departing New York at 4 p.m.

Sixty people were injured, five of them critically, and rail traffic from New York to Boston was shut down after a Metro-North commuter train derailed and plowed into a second train Friday in Fairfield, Conn.

An eastbound train derailed at 6:10 p.m. ET and struck a westbound train between the Fairfield and Bridgeport stations, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority official told NBC News.

The accident led to the shutdown of service and huge disruption for commuters north and east of New York.

Officials toured the scene of a two-train collision in Connecticut that injured dozens of people and halted rail traffic from New York to Boston on Friday.

Area hospitals reported seeing 70 people after the rush-hour collision. Two remained in critical condition on Saturday.

“The damage is absolutely staggering,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal told reporters on Saturday after a tour of the scene. “Ribbons on the sides of cars are torn away like ribbons of clothes. Tons of metal tossed around like toy things. The insides of cars are shattered.”

“We are fortunate that even more injuries were not the result of this very tragic and unfortunate accident,” Blumenthal said.

An eastbound Metro-North train derailed at 6:10 p.m. on Friday and was struck by a westbound train between the Bridgeport and Fairfield stations, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener told reporters on Saturday.

Investigators from the NTSB arrived in Connecticut at about 9 a.m. on Saturday morning and planned to begin documenting the scene of the crash, Weener said. Investigators planned to spend between seven to 10 days on scene, and will conduct interviews with the train’s crew members, passengers, and witnesses.

“We will not be determining the probable cause of the accident while we’re here on the scene, nor will we speculate on what may have caused the accident,” Weener said.

Later on Saturday, investigators said they had zeroed in on a fractured part of the rail line as being of particular interest. It has not been determined whether that fracture happened before or as a result of the accident, they said.

The FBI is no longer a part of the investigation, authorities said.

St. Vincent Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn. said on Saturday that it saw a total of 44 patients, six of whom were admitted for treatment. All those patients remained in the hospital on Saturday and were reported to be in stable condition.

Bridgeport Hospital saw a total of 26 patients and admitted three. Two of those patients were in critical condition a day after the accident, and a third was being held for further treatment.

Passengers who were on the two trains described the rending collision in vivid terms.

“We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke,” passenger Alex Cohen, a Canadian who was riding the westbound train toward New York, told NBC Connecticut.

“People were screaming, people were really nervous,” Cohen said. “We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out.”

A female conductor helped other passengers evacuate the train despite herself sustaining back injuries, authorities said at a press conference late Saturday afternoon.

The Metro-North train that departs New York City’s Grand Central Station for New Haven, Conn., at 4:41 p.m., with an estimated 300 passengers, derailed near the I-95 overpass in Bridgeport, MTA said in a statement. The train that leaves New Haven’s State Street station for Grand Central at 5:30 p.m., carrying about 400 passengers, struck the derailed train, the statement said.

Amtrak service between New York City and New Haven, Conn. remained suspended on Saturday following the accident, Amtrak said in a release. Trains would not run through Sunday, and the train service said it could not give an estimate on when schedules may return to normal.

Amtrak service between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., remained as scheduled, Amtrak said.

Metro-North, which runs between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, is one of the busiest commuter rail services in the U.S. There are four tracks on that segment of the New Haven Line, an MTA statement said, but two are out of service for replacement of overhead wires.

There was "extensive damage" to the track and the wire from the collision, MTA said. The train cars will remain in place until the investigation is completed.

NBC News Carlo Dellaverson and M. Alex Johnson contributed to this report.

Related:

• 60 injured, five critically, as trains collide in Connecticut
  

This story was originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 11:31 AM EDT

A 14-month-old girl was hospitalized after falling onto commuter train tracks in West Philadelphia.
 
Surveillance video shows a woman on the platform with her daughter in a stroller at the 56th Street SEPTA station around 1 p.m. Wednesday. Suddenly, the stroller slowly rolls toward the eastbound track and topples over.

"What it looks like to us is that the mother became distracted by something, didn't apply the brake on the stroller and the stroller was able to move off the platform and onto the tracks,'' said Scott Sauer, director of system safety for SEPTA.

The stroller came to rest on the outer rail, which carried no charge. The woman jumped off the platform to free the baby and hand her off to a man standing on the platform above.

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As the mother rescued her child, another woman ran to an emergency call box and hit the button, alerting SEPTA controllers of the incident.

The controllers then alerted an approaching train that was only one station away.

If the woman had not pressed the emergency button, the mother and her child could have had less than a minute to get off the tracks before the next train arrived.

Police say another good Samaritan hopped down the tracks to help the mother up. 
 
The child was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment of a cut on her forehead but is expected to be okay.

Sauer said during a news conference that watching the video was "gut-wrenching.'' 
 
"With the stroller moving at such a slow rate of speed, you know, you want to call out to someone, 'Hey, the stroller's moving! Somebody grab the stroller,''' Sauer said.

SEPTA police said no charges will be filed but the accident serves as a reminder for other riders to lock stroller brakes when waiting on platforms.

Shaun Best / Reuters file

A Via Rail Canada passenger train pulls into Dorval Station in Montreal, in this July 22, 2009 file photo. Canadian police authorities said on Monday they had arrested and charged two men with an "al Qaeda-supported" plot to derail a passenger train.

Canadian security forces say they have thwarted an al-Qaeda-backed plot to blow up a rail line between Canada and the United States, and officials announced two arrests on Monday afternoon.

The suspects had sought to attack a passenger train that left from the U.S. bound for Toronto once the train crossed the Canadian border, sources told NBC News. The suspects may have scouted trains departing from New York.

Canadian officials worked closely with the FBI throughout the investigation, which began last year.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the two accused, Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto, were conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack against a "VIA Rail Canada" passenger train. VIA runs trains in partnership with Amtrak.

Authorities said the men were planning to attack a route, not necessarily a specific train.

Exactly how the men planned to attack was still unclear, only that it was a threat to kill people, officials said.

The men were receiving support from al-Qaeda elements in Iran, according to officials, who added that there was no information to indicate the support was state-sponsored.

Charges against the pair include conspiring to carry out an attack against, and conspiring to murder persons unknown for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group, officials said. Police were searching the suspects homes Monday afternoon.

The men "had the capacity and intent to carry out these criminal acts," but "there was no imminent threat to the public, rail employees, train passengers or infrastructure," James Malizia, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said.

The suspects will appear in a Canadian court tomorrow for bail hearings.

In a statement, Amtrak said it was aware of the situation and is working with Canadian authorities during the ongoing investigation.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

NBC's Jon Dienst and Rich Esposito contributed to this report

CHICAGO -- A derailment on an Amtrak train from Chicago caused by a mudslide forced passengers to take buses for the last leg of their trip Sunday morning.

No injuries were reported for the train's 86 passengers and 11 crew members on board, however, travelers were forced to finish the last 30 miles of their trip via buses, according to Amtrak officials.

A mudslide, repotedly involving 30 feet of earth, trees and rocks, derailed the last three cars on the Empire Builder near Everett, Wash., around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, officials said.

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The train, uncoupled from the three derailed cars, continued to Mukilteo, Wash., where passengers were transferred to Charter buses.

Crews were working to clear the debris and repair the track, which was expected to reopen Tuesday, and BNSF Railway was investigating the incident.

Doug Bellfeuille / Minnesota Pollution Control Agency via Reuters

Crews work to recover an estimated 30,000 gallons of crude oil that leaked from three tanker cars involved in a derailment near Parkers Prairie in Minnesota on Wednesday.

A mile-long train hauling oil from Canada derailed, spilling 30,000 gallons of crude in western Minnesota on Wednesday, as debate rages over the environmental risks of transporting tar sands across the border.

The major spill, the first since the start of a boom in North American crude-by-rail transport three years ago, came when 14 cars on a 94-car Canadian Pacific train left the tracks about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis near the town of Parkers Prairie, the Otter Tail Sheriff's Department said.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, the country's second-largest railroad, said only one 26,000-gallon tank car had ruptured, adding it was a mixed freight train.

CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said he did not know if the crude was from Canada's tar sands or from conventional oil fields.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency spokesman Dan Olson said up to three tank cars were ruptured and an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 gallons - or 475 to 715 barrels - leaked out.

Cold weather had made the crude thicker, hindering the ability to recover the oil, Olson said, adding the initial cleanup was expected to continue for a day or two.

"We are focusing on drawing up the loose (oil) ... and once that has been taken up, they will then pump up the remaining oil in the tanks," Olson said. "Because of the winter conditions, the ground is frozen and there is not any damage to surface water or ground water. After the initial recovery we will see if the oil has soaked into the soil at all."

In an updated statement, CP said just one car was compromised and other two cars leaked while being moved during the response to the derailment and were contained.

Greenburg said that the safe clean-up efforts were progressing well and without concern.

"There have been reports that clean-up has been challenging. Our crews are taking appropriate steps in ensuring clean-up is conducted appropriately."

A photo provided by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency showed several large tank cars lying at the side of the railroad tracks in snow-covered fields, as clean-up crews examined the spill and maneuvered pump trucks into position.

"We have options to reroute traffic, so we've been able to continue to move trains while we do the thorough job of cleaning up the area," said Canadian Pacific's Greenberg.

A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration said two representatives of the U.S. rail regulator are investigating the incident.

There has been a rapid increase in rail transport of crude in the last three years as booming North American oil production has outgrown existing pipeline capacity.

Canada is the top exporter of crude to the United States, due to rising output of crude from its vast tar sands deposits.

Around 40,000 barrels per day on average were shipped to the United States in 2012, according to data from Canada's National Energy Board.

Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO, Canada's largest oil company, pulled the plug on its long-delayed and partially built Voyageur oil sands upgrading project in northern Alberta on Wednesday, citing surging volumes of crude from the Bakken.

'Good business for the rails and bad safety for the public'
Environmentalists have complained about the impact of developing the reserves, and have sought to block TransCanada Corp's controversial Keystone XL project, which would carry oil produced from the oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining center.

Some experts have argued oil-by-rail carries a higher risk of accidents and spills.

"It is good business for the rails and bad safety for the public," said Jim Hall, a transportation consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

"Railroads travel through population centers. The safest form of transport for this type of product is a pipeline. This accident could - and ought to - raise the issue for discussion."

Others noted that spills from rail cars are rare, and crude-by-rail has opened up opportunities for companies to develop huge volumes of oil production in places like the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota, which are not well served by pipelines.

Total shipments of petroleum on U.S. railroads rose more than 46 percent last year to 540,000 carloads, the Association of American Railroads said in January.

"It's not very good publicity, but railroads are incredibly safe, they don't spill often," said Tony Hatch, independent transportation analyst with ABH Consulting in New York who has done work for major railroads. "It should not change the opportunity railroads have to make us more energy independent."

Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline were quick to jump on the derailment as a reason to build the pipeline.

"It should be clear that we need to move more oil by pipeline rather than by rail or truck," said Don Canton, spokesman for North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, who has been one of the chief political proponents of the line. "This is why we need the Keystone XL. Pipelines are both safe and efficient."

Hoeven has supported the line as it would help carry oil produced in North Dakota to higher priced refining centers on the coast, and could help further expand production in the state that now pumps more oil than Alaska.

Video has emerged of a horrific crash in which a tow-truck driver was killed by an oncoming train as he was working to clear a stranded vehicle near the tracks in Southern California.

Shaun William Riddle, 27, was struck by a southbound Amtrak train in Cardiff at about 2:35 p.m. PT (5:35 a.m. ET) Saturday while he tried to hook up the vehicle to his truck. 

The father of two children had been called to the area to help a disabled SUV that had stalled just west of the tracks. 

The county medical examiner reported that Riddle got back into his truck and tried to move it out of the train’s path.

He could not move the truck in time and the train struck the truck at a high rate of speed, officials said.

More news from NBCSanDiego.com

A witness who caught the incident on video said the train crossing arm dropped on the SUV and a moment later, the train slammed into the tow truck.

The video shows the truck driver’s door closing and then the truck turning away from the train just moments before the collision.

Horrific sound
It’s unclear how fast the train was traveling at impact, but it came to a stop about half a mile away from the crossing. The crash is under investigation.

The sound of the fatal crash was horrific, witness Thomas Neely, who works across the street from the train tracks, told NBCSanDiego.com.

“It's somewhere between an explosion and thunder. You know, when metal hits metal it makes a noise unto itself,” Neely said.

Another witness said the driver was ejected from his tow truck and thrown some 100 yards from the crash site.

Pieces of the truck were strewn around the train tracks for hundreds of yards, including the flatbed, a wheel and even the massive engine block. which landed about 200 yards away.