Expert: New route may have distracted engineer
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, a key factor in the investigation.
Authorities on Wednesday reopened two southbound lanes of Interstate 5 — the Pacific Northwest’s main north-south arterial south of Seattle — 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 as the train came into a 30mph 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. A federal official not authorized to discuss the matter publicly spoke on condition of anonymity, saying 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?” said Keith Millhouse, a railsafety 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.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that Amtrak President Richard Anderson told him the rail company would pay the derailment costs and the victims’ medical and other expenses. He said Anderson would try to ensure a technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train — called positive train control — was in place statewide before a Dec. 31, 2018, federal deadline.
That technology was not in use on the stretch of track involved in the crash.
The train, with 85 passengers and crew members, was making the inaugural run along a fast, new 15-mile bypass route.