Amtrak train derails in Washington state

Other reports are saying the rail is brand new which means the roadbed and ballast are up to code to the tune of 181 million plus if not mixed in with a Obama era 800 millions for pax rail.

I think the real issue is that they do not want fast trains period. Not in my backyard situation.

The NTSB will release their findings down the road a number of months from now. Until then everything is speculation.

 

In Seattle we have a corrupt public transit organization called Sound Transit that is bilking millions and millions of dollars from tax payers to pay for unpopular rail transit. This new train was in their new tracks. Even on its maiden voyage it only had 77 passengers. Sound Transit and Amtrak are taxpayer funded boondoggles.

 

That particular bridge is upwards of 60-70 years old, by my guessing, and was supposedly upgraded for this rail line, but there is no way that curve is rated for the speeds they claim it was. I'm just a dumb truck driver, but in my view, no train should be going over that bridge or in that curve at more than 40-50 mph.

 

As soon as I read the Amtrak train was going over 81MPH at the time of it's derailment along a stretch of track with a speed restriction of 30MPH I was reminded of the accident of AMTRAK train 188 which happened back in 2015.

There is no PTC-Positive Train Control on either section of the rail line where BOTH of these accidents happened.

What is PTC?
" PTC technology is capable of automatically controlling train speeds and movements should a train operator fail to take appropriate action for the conditions at hand. For example, PTC can enforce a train to a stop before it passes a signal displaying a stop indication, or before diverging on a switch improperly lined, thereby averting a potential collision."

PTC was mandated to be in place and in use by the end of 2015 but that has been pushed back to the end of 2020. AMTRAK is supposed to be in compliance sometime in 2018. However this newly opened route for the AMTRAK Cascades service does not have PTC installed and maybe that is what the mayor of Lakewood Don Anderson was referring to when he spoke about the safety issues and likelihood of an accident. Engineers had already complained that they had to reduce their speed from 79MPH to 30MPH in a short window on a downhill grade.

Positive Train Control | Federal Railroad Administration

PTC System Information | Federal Railroad Administration

In addition, despite that section of rail line not having PTC, there is still only 1 locomotive engineer in the cab. The rest of the train crew would have been located in the passenger cars with no access to the locomotive while the train was underway so even if the engineer was incapacitated for any reason, they would neither be able to render assistance nor operate the controls. There are emergency brakes which can be applied. However to my knowledge there would be no way whatsoever the conductor or other crew could have known if the engineer was somehow incapacitated in the moments leading up to this accident.


"The public would never accept an airline operation with a single person in the ####pit," the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said in a statement. "There is no reason that rail employees and rail passengers' lives should be viewed any differently."

Amtrak hasn't had a second crew member in the locomotive of its Northeast Corridor trains since Congress ended the requirement in the early 1980s, the union said.

Unions urge Amtrak to put 2nd crew member in every locomotive

 

We need more regulation and oversight, not less. The railroads have already gotten this pushed back by 5 years. If this accident was something a PTC system could have prevented then we are simply allowing railroads to put profits over safety, how many lives have been lost simply because mandatory PTC control has been pushed back?

We need more investment into AMTRAK and other transportation options as the US highway system is already seriously overloaded with an aging infrastructure.

 

It sounded like he was concerned that the train would fly over tracks that had guard gates maybe and hit someone, unless they had a problem of some sort, it should be like any other area that has Amtrak trains whizzing by. Gary and Chicago had the South Shore and Amtrak and I know there were stupid people who went around the guard arms not wanting to wait.

 

That’s a good argument on why the trucking industry needs elogs,
“profits over safety”

 

So it does appear that the train was going much too fast and there was no PTC working at the time:


The Amtrak train that derailed Monday morning on its inaugural trip through a faster railway route was supposed to slow dramatically before entering the curve where the crash occurred.

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.

Officials: Amtrak train was reportedly going 80 in a 30-mph zone

“Engineers are trained to slow trains according to posted speeds,” she said.


Daniel Konzelman, who was driving on I-5 south parallel to the train, said he was traveling at 60 mph or more and watched the train pass his vehicle about a half-mile before the crash. A website that monitors locations and speeds of Amtrak trains, transitdocs.com, reported that the train was going about 81 mph shortly before the derailment, The Associated Press reported.



-The southbound lane of I-5, where the train cars came crashing down, will be closed on Tuesday.

-Positive train control (PTC) was not in use on the tracks where the accident occurred. Though track owner Sound Transit said the feature, which can automatically slow trains in order to avoid danger, was installed it was apparently not activated. NTSB board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said it would investigate why beginning Tuesday.


Amtrak train going more than twice speed limit when it derailed in Washington state, NTSB says

 

I wonder if there is any dashcam footage of it.

 

What I heard this morning the train was going 80 and derailed around a 30 mph curve.A 14 mile stretch of the tracks has been upgraded so infrastructure is not an issue in this case.