WA - Amtrak passenger train derails near Tacoma

[FindHG]

[video=youtube;ZaJ7f3B8wrg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaJ7f3B8wrg[/video]
AP more videos follow

PC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rohLNvgFfw

NTSB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyU_4FM9kG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPzKS1qgwKw
KXLY 4 News' Drew Reeves reports 'LE consider's the anon report to AP about an obstruction on the tracks is just speculation.'

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

This is also a choke point for I-5 (I've been stuck here many times since there are really no good alternate routes.) WSDOT Tacoma is recommending a 65 mile detour that goes all the way to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

It's a miracle more cars,trucks, etc weren't smashed. I was reading MYNORTHWEST. News this morning. When it happened.
Wondering how the heck does a train wind up on the freeway?
Then turned on Q13 and saw it was a passenger train. So sad.

 

[ellabella]

Friends are having an awful time trying to find out if their friend/husband is alive. All they've been told so far is that he was on the manifest. The family reunification centre was closed down as soon as families started arriving, and they are being sent from sherriffs office to amtrak to hospitals. I can't imagine how scary this must be for all of them.

 

[FindHG]

Friends are having an awful time trying to find out if their friend/husband is alive. All they've been told so far is that he was on the manifest. The family reunification centre was closed down as soon as families started arriving, and they are being sent from sherriffs office to amtrak to hospitals. I can't imagine how scary this must be for all of them.

This number was provided during the PC for families. I hope it helps ellabella and that your friend is alright.

From the afternoon PC

Amtrak # Support For Families 1 800 523 9101 to take care of the passengers, the families and the crew. A family assistance center will be setup


http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...n-derails-near-Tacoma&p=13821652#post13821652

 

[ellabella]

Unfortnately they are just being told over and over that they have no information they've called everyone from the number, to the state police, to the governor, no one will tell them anything. They're at a "family" centre right now set up at a hotel, but no one will tell them anything. Hopefully they hear more soon.

 

[Betty P]

Agreed. This is starting to feel like operator control issue. It hasn`t been published, at least yet, who was in charge on the 501.

The Amtrak/Cascade trains are pulled by new Charger locomotive. While equipped with positive train control systems that automatically stop trains when troubled is detected, the PTC system isn’t due to be activated until 2018.

So, it was installed, not activated for use yet.

http://gpsworld.com/no-positive-train-control-on-train-that-derailed-over-i-5/

I looked at pics of the charger locomotive and if it did hit something, it isn`t visible anywhere. Could a vehicle even reach the tracks on that overpass? :thinking:

I just checked Google maps and, other than the I 5 freeway down the hill, there are no other streets or roads nearby. Just open fields and trees. Not sure how anyone could access the tracks to leave anything there. Certainly not accessible by car or truck. The bridge it was getting ready to cross was for rail only.

 

[FindHG]

[video=youtube;XjdKYiT-zSw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjdKYiT-zSw[/video]

 

[DakotaMayi]

Hellfire.

I can't believe I am only just reading about this... although, I tend to avoid the news stations etc, it gets too depressing. WS is the only way I find out about these things.

I am now going from this thread, to the CA wildfires thread to NYC port authority thread... so much devastation

 

[MsMarple]

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said late Monday local time that the train was going 80 mph around a curve that had a 30 mph speed limit. She said the NTSB had yet to interview the train's engineer and crew and was unaware whether they knew the curve had a 30 mph limit.

None of the deaths were among those who were on the roadway of Interstate 5 when the train cars fell, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. However, several motorists on the highway near Dupont, about 20 miles south of Tacoma, were injured when their vehicles were struck by the derailed train.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/train-dera...eaving-car-dangling-highway/story?id=51861189

They don't know if the engineer and crew knew the curve had a 30 mph limit? Say what?

 

[DakotaMayi]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/train-dera...eaving-car-dangling-highway/story?id=51861189

They don't know if the engineer and crew knew the curve had a 30 mph limit? Say what?

I don't travel by train much, I drive everywhere, but what???? Surely this is something they are aware of? And something that is sign posted?

 

[ellabella]

Thought I should update that sadly both people my friends were looking for were identified as deceased in the crash. I hope other families found out better news this morning than my friends. (to be clear I haven't met these folks but they are friends/family of friends of mine)

 

[Spellbound]

I don't travel by train much, I drive everywhere, but what???? Surely this is something they are aware of? And something that is sign posted?

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...iled-in-washington-has-speed-limit-of-30-mph/
An Amtrak train derailed onto I-5 near Dupont on Monday. The small yellow sign to the right of the tracks shows the speed limit to be 30 mph. The back end of the train is stopped on the tracks, while the lead engine landed on the interstate. (Bettina Hansen / The Seattle Times)

The speed limit at the curve where the train crosses Interstate 5 is 30 miles per hour, said state transportation department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe, while the speed limit on most of the track is 79 mph. She said speed-limit signs are posted two miles before the lowered speed zone and then just before the zone.

 

[DakotaMayi]

Thought I should update that sadly both people my friends were looking for were identified as deceased in the crash. I hope other families found out better news this morning than my friends. (to be clear I haven't met these folks but they are friends/family of friends of mine)

I'm so sorry, ella. Please pass on our condolences. :heartbeat:

 

[1&2&3]

Ths article says there had.been many practice runs. So how did the engineer not know about the speed of 30 MPH in that curve?

It aggravates me when we read of a new invention such as the speed monitor that will be put on trains to automatically reduce the speed in a situation like what happened here in a few years. Why be so gung ho to put this fast train on the rails when there are known danngerous curves or areas?

Look at the lives lost, people injured by the rush to get the fast train out without the proper safety equipment! If all the equipment isn't ready to go at the same time, the R&D departemenrt needs to speed up their work or hold the train until all parts are ready. Safety comes first,

 

[Inthedetails]

Hellfire.

I can't believe I am only just reading about this... although, I tend to avoid the news stations etc, it gets too depressing. WS is the only way I find out about these things.

I am now going from this thread, to the CA wildfires thread to NYC port authority thread... so much devastation

Yes, just this month we've had the NYC subway bombing attempt, 11-hour power outage at the Atlanta airport, and this derailment in Washington. I hope that's the end of the transportation problems.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

Thought I should update that sadly both people my friends were looking for were identified as deceased in the crash. I hope other families found out better news this morning than my friends. (to be clear I haven't met these folks but they are friends/family of friends of mine)

So sorry. Sad news like this is difficult, even for those who are "friends of friends" of the victims.

 

[Spellbound]

I'm so sorry, ella. Please pass on our condolences. :heartbeat:

How heartbreaking this is to learn. I am so very sorry.

And this did not need to happen.

 

[Isabelle]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/train-dera...eaving-car-dangling-highway/story?id=51861189

They don't know if the engineer and crew knew the curve had a 30 mph limit? Say what?

Engineers are most certainly aware of the laws of physics as concerns speed in a curve. I don’t there there is any excuse for this accident except maybe for failed braking.

 

[Inthedetails]

Engineers are most certainly aware of the laws of physics as concerns speed in a curve. I don’t there there is any excuse for this accident except maybe for failed braking.

A train derailment in NYC a few years ago was also because of high speeds at a sharp curve. IIRC, the engineer had taken cold medicine and blamed that for impaired thinking. (I didn't fact check that, going off my memory.)

You would think that on a maiden trip, the crew would be excited and hyper aware of their work?

jmo

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Train speeding 50 mph over limit before derailment
Rachel La Corte, Gillian Flaccus and Michael Sisak, Associated Press Published 9:51 a.m. ET Dec. 19, 2017

Dupont, Wash. – Federal officials confirmed an Amtrak train was hurtling 50 mph over the speed limit when it careened off an overpass south of Seattle, spilling cars onto the highway below and killing at least three people.

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 at 7:34 a.m. Mangled train cars ended up on top of each other - and one hung precariously over the freeway.

When the clanging of metal and screeching stopped at first it was quiet. Then came the screams.

After the crash, the injured called out as rescuers — including people who had been in cars on their morning freeway commute — rushed to help. 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...

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...-train-derailment-washington-state/108741018/