Speeding train plunges off bridge
US investigators said an Amtrak passenger train was travelling 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 travelling on a new route for the first time, was speeding at 80km/h in a 48km/h zone.
National Transportation Safety Board vice-chairwoman Bella Dinh-Zarr said it was too early to tell why the train was travelling so fast.
The train, which was carrying 77 passengers and seven crew, derailed in DuPont, about 80km south of Seattle, on a curve that passes over busy Interstate 5.
Pictures from the scene showed one mangled train carriage lying upside down on the 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 a critical condition.
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.
Officials had warned only weeks ago that the track might not be safe enough to handle trains at higher speeds.
Federal investigators visited the scene yesterday to begin an investigation which would last between a week and 10 days, Dinh-Zarr said.
Information obtained from the front locomotive’s data recorder, which was more difficult to access, would potentially lend more insight, she said.
The distress call was placed by a conductor on board, who can be heard in an audio recording, saying: “Amtrak 501, emergency emergency emergency, we are on the ground.”
Chris Karnes, a transit official, described the moment when the train veered of the tracks.
“We felt this rocking and creaking noise, and it felt like we were heading down a hill,” he said.
“The next thing, we’re being slammed into the front of our seats, windows are breaking, we stop, and there’s water gushing out of the train. People were screaming.”
The train hit five vehicles and two trucks, police said.
But there were no deaths among those on the highway, a spokesman for Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.
Amtrak president and co-chief executive Richard Anderson said he was deeply saddened and pledged to support passengers and crew and their families.
The accident marred the launch of faster services on the route after a $181-million (R2.3billion) upgrade to improve the rails, the locomotives and the signalling technology.
US President Donald Trump said the accident underscored the need to invest in infrastructure.
“Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways [and more] crumble! Not for long!” he tweeted.
The new Siemens Charger locomotives were equipped with positive train control safety systems, designed to automatically stop the train in dangerous situations.
But the technology was only expected to be used next year when it is activated on the entire rail corridor.
Dinh-Zarr said investigators were checking to see whether the technology had been installed in this particular track section.
In 2015, an Amtrak train travelling well above the designated speed derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight. – AFP