Passengers injured in Vermont Amtrak crash out of hospital: governor

(Reuters) - Seven people injured when an Amtrak train derailed in northern Vermont on Monday have been released from area hospitals, the state's governor said on Tuesday.

That number includes the train's conductor, who Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said sustained a concussion and some bruising when the train hit rocks that had fallen on the tracks about 20 miles (32 km) south of the state capital, Montpelier.

"The seven folks who were injured have been released from the hospital," Shumlin told reporters. "The cleanup process will begin shortly."

While National Transportation Safety Board officials are now on site performing a full investigation of the incident, Shumlin said early information suggested nothing "improper" had led to the crash.

"We believe the freak incident of a ledge falling on the track led the challenges we were facing," he said.

Buses are carrying passengers along the line, which is popular with tourists who come to see the changing fall foliage of the areas' trees, Shumlin said.

The incident occurred five months after the derailment of an Amtrak train near Philadelphia killed eight people and injured more than 200 on May 12.

In February, six people were killed in a fiery collision between a Metro-North Railroad passenger train and a sport utility vehicle in Valhalla, a New York City suburb.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Sandra Maler)