The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Six die as train derails on first run on faster route
Train hurtled off overpass, spilling carriages on to road
A train making the first run along a faster route has hurtled off an overpass in the US and spilled some of its carriages on to the road below, killing at least six people, authorities said.
Seventy-eight passengers and five crew were aboard when the Amtrak train travelling at more than 80mph derailed about 40 miles south of Seattle on a route that had raised safety concerns. The death toll is expected to rise.
An official briefed on the investigation said preliminary signs indicated that Train 501 may have struck something before going off the track.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said several vehicles on Interstate 5 were struck by falling train carriages and many motorists were injured, though none were reported dead.
Hospital officials said of those injured at least two were in a critical condition and 11 others were seriously injured.
Four hospitals said 50 people were being treated.
Chris Karnes was on the train, three or four carriages from the front. He said the only part of the train remaining on the tracks was the rear locomotive.
The possibility that the wreck was caused by something on the tracks fed into concerns voiced by local officials about the risk of high-speed trains crossing busy streets. The mayor of a town near the derailment had warned about the danger of an accident at a public meeting two weeks ago.
Daniel Konzelman, 24, was driving parallel to the train on his way to work in Olympia. He was about 30 seconds ahead of the train on the freeway when he saw it derail.
Mr Konzelman, who was driving with a friend, said he pulled off the freeway and ran down along the tracks and over the bridge to get to the scene.
They saw three cars and a truck on the freeway that had been damaged by the derailment. There were train carriages with their roofs ripped off, or that were tipped upside down, on both sides of the track or turned sideways on the bridge.
They climbed into train carriages and found people hurt – some pinned underneath the train, others who appeared to be dead, he said.
The train was making the inaugural run on the new route as part of a $180 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound which is bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.