Breaking: Amtrak Train Derails in Washington State

[Bill]

Derailed, train cars fell off a highway bridge crossing.

Looks bad.

[MrPeabody]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/amtrak-train-derails-highway-bridge-washington-state-media-161657627.html

So far no deaths reported, keep our fingers crossed.

[DAB]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/amtrak-train-derails-highway-bridge-washington-state-media-161657627.html

So far no deaths reported, keep our fingers crossed.

at least 3 dead.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/train-derails-from-bridge-onto-interstate-5-near-olympia/

[OddBall]

:sadangel:

[mrvette]

A RR track/bridge over I 5......first run of this 'commuter' train and so has only 78 passengers?? ok, I really see the need for this concept....highly critical....:dance:

second off that bridge/tracks been there now many years without problems??

how often it inspected??

just HOW, specifically, did that train manage to derail and then break through the bridge walls???

I looking at 'accident' probability, and declaring BULLSHIT!!! I think some terrorist strike......

islam, anyone??? :issues:

[VITE1]

:sadangel::sadangel:

[WalkerInTN]

A RR track/bridge over I 5......first run of this 'commuter' train and so has only 78 passengers?? ok, I really see the need for this concept....highly critical....:dance:

second off that bridge/tracks been there now many years without problems??

how often it inspected??

just HOW, specifically, did that train manage to derail and then break through the bridge walls???

I looking at 'accident' probability, and declaring BULLSHIT!!! I think some terrorist strike......

islam, anyone??? :issues:

I KNEW that was coming. :slap:

[polarbear]

This is going to be an epic mess. I-5 right between Olympia and Tacoma- as far as potential traffic messes in the Pacific Nwst, it doesn't get much worse than this.

http://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxnews.com/content/fox-news/us/2017/12/18/amtrak-train-derails-in-washington-state-blocks-interstate-5/_jcr_content/article-text/article-par-2/inline_spotlight_ima/image.img.jpg/612/344/1513616389300.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

I'm already looking at potential alternate routes- we're headed up to the San Juan Islands in a few days. Thoughts and prayers to the victims- sounds like 6 dead right now, probably more after they can go through the last two cars they haven't been able to inspect.

[Jeff '79]

That was the first run , (maiden voyage), after high speed testing of that new line.
The first trip with paying customers.
Testing must have gone really well... :wtf:

[Kevin_73]

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0823869,-122.675207,84m/data=!3m1!1e3

Not sure when google took the satellite images of that area, but the tracks looked like they could use some maintenance. Looks like there might even be a missing tie or two right where the train probably jumped the tracks. :sadangel:

[mrvette]

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0823869,-122.675207,84m/data=!3m1!1e3

Not sure when google took the satellite images of that area, but the tracks looked like they could use some maintenance. Looks like there might even be a missing tie or two right where the train probably jumped the tracks. :sadangel:

INteresting....nuff said.....:issues:

[99 pewtercoupe]

It will be a little while until real information starts being released. At this point it does not appear to be the result of equipment failure on the locomotive or cars (wheel or axle failure, etc) Event recorders in the locomotive will provide data...speed at time of derailment etc that will be very helpful. In my own opinion as someone who has worked in the rail industry but is not a track dynamics expert, that does not look like an 80 MPH curve

[Jeff '79]

It will be a little while until real information starts being released. At this point it does not appear to be the result of equipment failure on the locomotive or cars (wheel or axle failure, etc) Event recorders in the locomotive will provide data...speed at time of derailment etc that will be very helpful. In my own opinion as someone who has worked in the rail industry but is not a track dynamics expert, that does not look like an 80 MPH curve

It's a 30 mph curve.
It does not look like an 80 mph crash either.
If it was, those cars would be scattered a lot farther and not all standing upright.

[Loco Vette]

In my own opinion as someone who has worked in the rail industry but is not a track dynamics expert, that does not look like an 80 MPH curve Ditto

[Loco Vette]

It's a 30 mph curve.
It does not look like an 80 mph crash either.
If it was, those cars would be scattered a lot farther and not all standing upright.

Some Amtrak tracking app apparently showed 81.1 mph immediately prior to the issue.

[WalkerInTN]

News this morning says the train was going 80mph in a 30mph curve.

[Stangkiller]

News this morning says the train was going 80mph in a 30mph curve.

Ouch...wtf did a brand new route not get the auto speed. What a mess.

[Kerrmudgeon]

My friend out there was going to take her grandkids on that train over Christmas......she cancelled. :nonod:

[mrvette]

My friend out there was going to take her grandkids on that train over Christmas......she cancelled. :nonod:

:dance::sadangel::hurray::hurray::issues:

[Loco Vette]

Ouch...wtf did a brand new route not get the auto speed. What a mess.

It has it but it's not required to be active until 1/1/18.

[Loco Vette]

:sadangel::sadangel::sadangel:

USA Today (WA) - Amtrak train was 50 mph over the speed limit, National Transportation Safety Board confirms
December 19, 2017
Josh Farley, Bart Jansen, Mike James and John Bacon

An Amtrak train was travelling 50 mph over the speed limit when it careened off an overpass south of Seattle, killing at least three people, federal officials confirmed.

Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said at a Monday night news conference that information from the event data recorder in the rear locomotive showed the train was traveling at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone when it derailed.

The train's speed and the posted speed limit are likely to be key points for federal accident investigators, who are trying to determine why the train — on its inaugural run — flew off the track and caused several rail cars to plunge off a bridge overpass and onto a traffic-clogged interstate at 7:34 a.m Monday.

Mangled train cars ended up on top of each other - and one hung precariously over the freeway after the train derailed.

Dinh-Zarr said it’s not yet known what caused the train to derail and that “it’s too early to tell” why it was going so fast.

Positive train control — the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train — wasn’t in use on this stretch of track, according to Amtrak President Richard Anderson.

At least five vehicles on I-5 were struck by derailed train cars tumbling down from the tracks above, Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer said.

"We have multiple fatals on the train, no fatals on the roadway," Troyer said. Authorities say there are three confirmed deaths. City of DuPont Fire Chief Larry Creekmore also says more than 100 patients were transported for treatment. Hospital officials said at least two people were in critical condition and 11 others were seriously injured.

Authorities said 77 passengers and seven crew members were on board.

Transitdocs.com, which maps train speeds using data from Amtrak’s train tracker app, said moments before the derailment the train was going 81.1 mph. A track chart prepared by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows the maximum speed drops from 79 mph to 30 mph for passenger trains just before the tracks curve to cross I-5.

One of the train passengers was Emma Shafer, who found herself at a 45-degree angle staring at the seats in front of her that had dislodged and swung around.

“It felt oddly silent after the actual crashing,” Shafer said. “Then there was people screaming because their leg was messed up … I don’t know if I actually heard the sirens, but they were there. A guy was like, ‘Hey, I’m Robert. We’ll get you out of here.’”

Amtrak Train 501 left Seattle at 6 a.m. local time as a new and controversial, high-speed service to Portland designed to avoid sharp curves, freight traffic and other obstacles that could slow the trip.

The state Transportation Department said federal funds were used to upgrade the tracks for passenger train use and that the Federal Railroad Administration had monitored the work.

The new improved tracks were not welcomed by some local officials. The city of Lakewood filed a lawsuit in 2013 to fight against the Point Defiance Bypass, arguing state transportation officials hadn’t done a sufficient environmental assessment. The lawsuit was eventually thrown out by a judge, but bitterness remains.

“It’s virtually inevitable that someone is going to get killed that wouldn’t get killed otherwise,” Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson said at a Dec. 4 meeting to discuss the opening of the line.

[Hoog]

I'm not buying it. The wreckage is all right there at the bridge. If they were really doing 80 at the time it jumped, that's a high G stop for them all to end up where you see in the pictures. the locomotive and cars on I-5 would be much more F'ed up, and at the very least they'd have made it to the Northbound side of the highway.

Edit: Now that I had a chance to look at the sat view, I would still expect the wreckage to have completely crossed the highway and into the trees in the median.

The article above says "doing 80 at the time of the crash", another I read says "measured at 80 just before the crash". Those two statements are not the same and my money is on the latter. Completely in line with the stated max for the track leading into the curve, but that doesn't feed the news frenzy quite the way they like. Bet me the slant of reporting favored the protesters to this line opening in the preceding months.

[Der Flieger]

Fifty over is a felony in some states.

[Loco Vette]

80 MPH with a freight train composed of 286,000 lb cars crashes a lot differently than passenger cars at 150,000 or less each. Plus this was going into a curve which introduces a lot more jackknike type slowing. Engineer may have put it into emergency when they realized they were in trouble but I am 100% convinced this was a speed issue.

[mrvette]

80 MPH with a freight train composed of 286,000 lb cars crashes a lot differently than passenger cars at 150,000 or less each. Plus this was going into a curve which introduces a lot more jackknike type slowing. Engineer may have put it into emergency when they realized they were in trouble but I am 100% convinced this was a speed issue.

So 80 to 30 is a simple loopty loop on a speed sign.....I dunno if our freeway signs would apply/show the same on a RR track.....BUT no matter in today's age, it would seem someone could easy manipulate data to the train driver and cause this, by time he figgered out that shit was going to happen, it was TDL.....

I smell an islamic attack......BUT IF that is the actual case....the .gov will never allow US, the public to know the truth....they MAY change rules and shit, but to admit our RR/safety sistums are all that easy to hack....one DIGIT off....ONE digit, take about 3 seconds to change to a good keyboard operator....NO???

:issues:

[99 pewtercoupe]

Reports now saying the engineer may have been "distracted" by another employee in the cab. Wonder what that means ?

[WalkerInTN]

So 80 to 30 is a simple loopty loop on a speed sign.....I dunno if our freeway signs would apply/show the same on a RR track.....BUT no matter in today's age, it would seem someone could easy manipulate data to the train driver and cause this, by time he figgered out that shit was going to happen, it was TDL.....

I smell an islamic attack......BUT IF that is the actual case....the .gov will never allow US, the public to know the truth....they MAY change rules and shit, but to admit our RR/safety sistums are all that easy to hack....one DIGIT off....ONE digit, take about 3 seconds to change to a good keyboard operator....NO???

:issues:

And I smell more of Gene's bullshit. You're really starting to come off as a crackpot.

[Loco Vette]

81.1 mph according to the event recorder just before the emergency brakes came on at the time of the crash.

Other info about Positive Train Control and some other good info in this article:

Amtrak train speeding at the time of the derailment (http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/intercity/amtrak-train-derails-south-of-seattle.html?channel=41)

Ripped the roof off of the lead locomotive. I've never seen that before.