There have been 82 train derailments already this year, according to the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis.
Hearing there was another, is disconcerting for Jonathon Grey, who travels to Union Station from New York, every weekend.
"I'm probably not taking the train anymore," Grey said. "Only time can heal that type of wound. Over the next few months, years or so, we'll see how many more accidents keep happening and there's a frequency in accidents, then we can't take the train."
Alexandra Kennedy, on the other hand, said she still trusts transportation.
"I was kind of surprised there was a train derailment," Kennedy said. "I wouldn't expect that around me, but it doesn't make me more nervous to ride the train or anything."
The crash Sunday morning also left 35 people injured, the Chester Fire Department said.
It's unclear why the backhoe was on the track near Chester, just south of Philadelphia. The two fatalities were found on or near the backhoe, Pennsylvania Emergency Management spokeswoman Ruth Miller said.
The train was carrying about 341 passengers and seven crew members when it crashed, Amtrak said. The impact caused the lead engine of the train to derail.
Even before the crash, passenger Glenn Hills said he knew something was wrong.
He didn't see the backhoe that lay ahead on the track. "There was a lot of debris in the track, and we started driving through that," the Brooklyn resident said. "There was a lot of gravel noise."
The mess wasn't confined to the track, Hills said.
"I looked outside, and it looked like we were in this brown cloud," he said, speculating that the dustiness came from construction or high winds. "We were rolling into this storm, this sandstorm."
That's when passengers started panicking.
"People are yelling at that point," he said. "There was a woman screaming a prayer."
Then the train slammed into the backhoe.
Hills said the impact didn't feel severe from the second passenger car, where he was sitting. He likened it to the feeling of a roller coaster abruptly stopping at the end of the ride -- "but scarier."
Other passengers weren't so lucky.
"There was tremendous impact on the first car," Hills said. He said the roof of that car was torn open, and several windows were broken.
"It feels like a nightmare," he said. "It felt like this is that experience that I've feared in the past."
Amtrak will operate regularly scheduled trains on Monday.
Acela Express, Northeast Regional and other Amtrak services will be subject to some delays in the affected area between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, Amtrak officials said.
The crash came less than a month after an Amtrak train headed from Chicago to Los Angeles derailed in Kansas, injuring 32 people.
It also came almost a year after another Amtrak derailment near Philadelphia -- one that left eight people dead and more than 200 injured.
Sunday's crash near Philadelphia made Hills consider whether he should fly more.
"I rely on Amtrak a lot, and I travel for my job in the Northeast Corridor a lot," said Hills, who works in the specialty food industry. "This incident has really fed my fears."
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) released the following statement on the Amtrak crash:
“Today's tragedy further demonstrates the urgent need to rebuild our crumbling rail infrastructure and ensure safe operations nationwide. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families after yet another tragic Amtrak accident, this one less than a year removed from the Philadelphia disaster and just weeks after a derailment in Kansas. We need answers immediately – and I am pleased the National Transportation Safety Board has already launched an investigation to find all the facts. Whether due to basic human error or insufficient safety protocols, a massive section of the Northeast Corridor is again shut down, disrupting our economy and upending lives.”