Distraction major focus of derailment probe
SEATTLE — Experts say it's possible the engineer on an Amtrak train that derailed as it hurtled into a curve at more than twice the speed limit was distracted for an extended period of time before the train plunged off an overpass and onto a busy interstate.
Authorities on Wednesday reopened two southbound lanes of Interstate 5 — the Pacific Northwest's main north-south arterial — that had been closed since Monday's accident as federal investigators focused on whether the engineer's attention was diverted by a second person in the cab, or by something else.
Three men were killed Monday south of Seattle when the train barreled into a 30 mph zone at 80 mph. Southbound lanes of Interstate 5 near DuPont had been closed at the accident ever since.
A conductor in training who was familiarizing himself with the new route was in the locomotive with the engineer at the time. A federal official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly said authorities want to know whether the engineer lost “situational awareness” — didn't realize where he was.
Rail-safety experts say that while it is fairly common to have two people in a cab, investigators will look into whether that may have distracted the engineer.
“What interactions were the conductor and the engineer having and did that distract the engineer from his focus on where they were on the route?” asked Keith Millhouse, a rail-safety consultant who was former board chairman of Metrolink, Southern California's commuter rail system.
Millhouse said the two could have been having discussions that caused the engineer to not realize where he was on the route.
“My guess is there were probably distractions not only immediately prior to the accident but in the minutes leading up to the accident,” he said.
Investigators had not yet interviewed the train engineer and other crew members — all of whom were hospitalized — as of Wednesday morning, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said.
“This is a situation where the engineer should have been starting the braking application probably a minute before they reached that curve,” said Allan Zarembski, a civil engineering professor who directs the rail engineering and safety program at the University of Delaware.
Railroad unions have repeatedly urged adding a second crew member in the cab. Former NTSB chief railroad crash investigator Ed Dobranetski disagrees, saying that putting multiple crew members in a locomotive is “more of a distraction” than a safeguard.
Meanwhile, authorities identified the third man killed in the deadly derailment and say he was under federal supervision for a child pornography conviction.
The Pierce County coroner's office said Wednesday that 40-year-old Benjamin Gran, of Auburn, Washington, died of multiple traumatic injuries. Gran had been ordered to a lifetime of supervised release following a felony conviction for child pornography. He served two years in prison and was released in 2015.
Jim Hamre, 61, and Zack Willhoite, 35, had earlier been identified as victims.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that Amtrak President Richard Anderson told him the rail company would pay the costs of the derailment as well as the medical and other expenses of the victims. He also said Anderson would try to ensure that a technology can automatically slow or stop a speeding train — known as positive train control — is in place statewide before a Dec. 31, 2018, federal deadline.
That technology was not in use on the stretch of track involved in Monday's crash.