(Lead photo: KOMO-TV Seattle) At 7:33 in the morning on Monday, December 18th 2017, the Amtrak Cascades passenger train derailed off of the Point Defiance Bypass on it’s inaugural run on the bypass route. Thirteen cars derailed out of fourteen total carraiges (the pusher locomotive remained on the tracks) with three rail cars landing in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 just south of the Mounts Road exit near DuPont, Washington, five miles south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. As of writing, three are confirmed to have died in the accident and 72 people were taken to hospitals in the region.
The Point Defiance Bypass was a project that had been in the works since 2015. The plan was to re-route Amtrak service from the original rail lines that ran along the Tacoma Metro coastline of Puget Sound just north of Nisqually, Washington. That line, which adheres to the coastline through the Tacoma Narrows before turning at the Nelson Bennett Tunnel and heading semi-south towards the station near the Tacoma Dome, was considered slow and the single-track tunnel had to handle not only Amtrak runs but Burlington Northern-Santa Fe freight trains as well. The plan was to streamline the shot from the Tacoma station to the junction south of DuPont before the Amtrak service reconnected to the line near Nisqually in the south. The route was expected to shave time off of the run and was supposed to allow higher train speeds (up to 79 miles per hour) but there was opposition from several of the neighborhoods, with Lakewood’s Mayor Don Anderson being one of the most vocal just a month prior to this derailment. “It’s virtually inevitable that someone is going to get killed that wouldn’t be killed otherwise,” Anderson has said. “This is unacceptable. Come back when there is that accident, and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements, or you can go back now and advocate for the money to do it, because this project was never needed and endangers our citizens.”
Photo: KING-TV (Seattle)
He wasn’t wrong to be concerned, either. In July 2017 a Cascades train derailed near Steilacoom, southwest of Tacoma, after the engineer failed to slow down to a 40 MPH speed limit while approaching a drawbridge. That train nearly put train cars into Puget Sound, but passengers escaped with only minor injuries and were evacuated by police and patrol boats from Gig Harbor. The city had even sued the Washington State Department of Transportation in 2013 in an attempt to stop the project, and while the lawsuit failed (it was dismissed on a summary judgement motion in 2014), Lakewood did get some additional money for upgrades to rail crossings and fences along the route.
So what happened to Cascades Train 501 that derailed in DuPont? Early investigations are focusing on the train’s speed. At maximum, the line is meant to handle 79 MPH, but the area where the train derailed is curved and is marked down to 30 MPH. Early reports have Train 501 traveling at 81.1 MPH when it went off of the tracks. Do keep in mind that early reports are just that, early reports. The investigation is underway and will be ongoing for quite some time. An NTSB “go team” was dispatched to the accident scene to figure out what exactly happened…they will be working at least through the morning of the 19th, and until they finish with their investigation at the scene, the likelihood of southbound Interstate 5 being reopened anytime soon is nil. Cranes and “sidewinder” machines used to wrench derailed train cars from where they landed are staged and are ready to go to work once the NTSB gives the green light to do so.
BangShift.com sends our condolences to the families whose lives were impacted by the derailment.
Photo: The Seattle Times
NTSB confirmed the train was going 80 mph in a 30 MPH zone, train jumped the track (obviously) at the curve and six are dead, dozens injured some critical.
The inaugural run for this train service…? Jesus H…what a bunch of fuck ups!!
Well it is Amtrack. FUBAR is the nominal status.
I grew up about 7 miles from the crash site.
I myself am not a fan of using high speed rail in this country. They have to use u pickup load of computers on a train like this just to keep it on the track . And the rail system was designed in this country in the Mid to early 1800’s. It all boils down to money ,as does everything in this country. As far as the Government is concerned ,we all have a monetary value .And it ain’t that much.
$118 million spent on upgrade (a bypass route from the regular line) to cut 10 minutes off total travel time between Tacoma and Olympia (30 miles). Are you fucking kidding me? I drive this road often and had no idea that’s what this was for, I assumed it was a rail line relocation for Joint Base Lewis McChord to upgrade that stretch of I-5 to relieve traffic congestion.
Not a big fan of rail travel. In Boston, the MBTA absorbs
49% of the gas tax, and 16% of the sales tax. So instead of fixing the
road infrastructure, the money supports the inefficient, inept, corrupt,
mass transit system, that is useless to half of the Massachusetts residents.
And, bye the way, with all the media attention to autonomous cars, how come
there are not autonomous trains? Trains are confined to the tracks, so all
the steering and lane position issues don’t exist. Seems like it would be comparatively easy….
Fair travel is a total loser. Portland Oregon’s MAX has spent over a billion in the last ten years and hasn’t broke even in its entire history.
This is not \”high speed rail\”. Most of Amtrak\’s trains, at some point, run above 70MPH.
Amtrak needs to send their engineers to Europe to learn how it is really done. This is inexcusable & sad.
In this country 80 MPH is high speed .I know in other countries trains do twice that speed. I may be wrong ,but I think all Amtrack engines are able to run at 125MPH. We all know it was a 30MPH zone,but the train was haul’n ass aka high speed . Now the suites will go to work to make sure that no company was at fault.
I think the problem is the train ran off the rails. Of course, that’s just a preliminary guess and subject to change and or addendum as more evidence comes in.
In the last photo, it seems the engine was pushing the rail cars not pulling. Could this been the difference?
It was a pusher for whatever reason.
There were two locomotives: one at the front of the train and one at the rear of the train–> very common.
Lead locomotive is furthest car down from the bridge on I-5 southbound.
So why does a NEW 80 mph rail line have a 30 mph corner?
Totally the engineer’s fault – Amtrak eng suck vrs real train drivers
Hey Stovebolt – The reason the MBTA is so broke is that CHARLIE BAKER
moved all the big dig dept onto the MBTA when he was the treasurer !!!!
$118 mil 3yr update w/ no PTC ???? You shitting me ??
North of Boston we just had PTC installed from Boston to Rockport while an
new bridge went in in Beverly and new track from Gloucester to Rockport
Trains, a pain waiting for them and a pain riding in them.
I\’m not a fan of trains either but more needs to be done improving our railways infrastructure which we\’re not sure if that was the case in this story or not.
There is a lot of bad stuff being exposed about this. Rail officials putting pressure on running this new line fast to keep travel time down. I\’m amazed more people didn\’t die considering how bad that crash looks.
Lets see if I remember , company officials pressured people in charge of moving people years ago ,also on a maiden voyage.TITANIC !!!
You’re not supposed to go 80 in a 30?
Is the conductor trainee that was with the engineer in the train cab female?
Electing to refit current trains in gradual phases to handle higher speeds is not effective,efficient or SAFE.
Amtrak\’s U.S. Government-approved \”plan\” wastes money and puts travelers,employees,and the general public at risk and in danger.
America should be disappointingly embarrassed and ashamed of how lagging,un- and under-developed our rail system is in comparison to rail systems in other advanced countries.
Commit to a solid plan on a new high-speed rail system.