Injuries minor in Washington derailment
Amtrak line reopens at slow speeds between Vancouver and Eugene-Springfield, Oregon
STEILACOOM, Washington — A rail line in Washington state was operating Monday after a passenger train derailed, but slower speeds were in place.
Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham warned Monday that there would be some delays.
The company and BNSF Railway are investigating why the locomotive and baggage car of the Amtrak Cascades train carrying 267 passengers derailed Sunday near the town of Steilacoom, about 70 kilometres south of Seattle.
Train 506 derailed near the Chambers Bay golf course, the site of golf’s 2015 U.S. Open.
Passenger Mitchell Crowley of Redmond, Washington, told the Seattle Times that he was on one of the four cars that wound up off the track.
“I was in the farthest back … didn’t go very far off the rails,” the 18-year-old said. “I did get to have that exciting experience: Brake, brake, brake and tipping over.”
Crowley said the car he was on tipped about 15 degrees.
All passengers were removed and provided with alternate transportation, the company said.
The train runs between Vancouver (B.C., not Washington) and Eugene-Springfield, Oregon.
The railroad tracks on which the locomotive derailed was reopened shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday for service at limited speeds.
The Gig Harbor Police Department said one of its patrol boats was helping environment officials put in pollution-control booms to block fuel from the derailment from leaking into a nearby body of water.
Graham said Train 506 has been moved to the side while the investigation of what went wrong continues.
Passenger belongings from the baggage car are being gathered and will be returned.
She said Amtrak doesn’t yet know how fast the train was going at the time of the derailment, but that the speed limit in the area is 80 kilometres an hour.