US train was doing 80 mph in 30 zone when it derailed: investigators

US investigators said an Amtrak passenger train was traveling at more than double the speed limit before it derailed in Washington state, plunging off a bridge onto a busy highway and killing at least three people.

Preliminary information obtained from an event data recorder in the rear locomotive showed the train, which was traveling on a new route for the first time, was speeding at 80 miles (128 kilometers) per hour in a 30 mph zone.

But Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) told reporters it was “too early to tell” why the train was traveling so fast.

The train, which was carrying 77 passengers and seven crew, derailed in DuPont, about 50 miles south of Seattle, on a curve that passes over busy Interstate 5 at about 7:40 am.

Pictures from the scene showed one mangled train carriage lying upside down on the interstate highway, while others dangled from the overpass at a precarious angle.

Several other carriages also ended up on the highway, shutting down a key section of the busy artery that connects the greater Seattle metropolitan area to Olympia. All but one of the 14 train cars jumped the tracks.

Washington State police spokeswoman Brooke Bova confirmed the death toll, and said that of the 100 or so people who were injured, several were in critical condition.

“We don’t know if that number will change,” she warned.

Officials gave no reason for the derailment of southbound Amtrak train 501, the inaugural run of a new service promising faster connections between Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

Local officials had warned only weeks ago that the track might not be safe enough to handle trains at higher speeds.

Federal investigators would visit the scene on Tuesday to begin an investigation which would last between a week and 10 days, Dinh-Zarr said.