FOX: An Amtrak train that derailed Monday during its inaugural ride on a new line in Washington state was traveling at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone, the National Transportation Safety Board said, citing data recorder information.
Bella Dinh-Zarr, an NTSB board member, said at a news conference late Monday that information from the data recorder in the rear locomotive provided information about the train’s speed.
At least three people were killed in the derailment, and more than 70 others were taken to a hospital for medical treatment, police said.
Dinh-Zarr said it was not yet known what caused the train to derail and that it was “too early to tell” why the train was going so fast.
Transportation Department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said earlier Monday the curve where the train was crossing has a speed limit of 30 mph, the Seattle Times reported.
“Engineers are trained to slow trains according to posted speeds,” LaBoe said.
Additionally, Amtrak President Richard Anderson told reporters in a conference call that Positive Train Control – the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train – wasn’t in use on the stretch of track where the derailment unfolded.
The FBI said in a statement that there was no information to suggest a nexus to terrorism or any elevated risk to Washington residents. The agency was assisting the NTSB in its investigation. read more
Toxicology report on the engineer and cell phone/text/email records should give the reason.
Although, did we ever receive any of that for the philly crash?
I don’t remember.
Something as simple as a gps could flash/sound warnings about speed limits
Was it a white driver?
Maybe engine was on PTC where there was no PTC?
I thought those Seattle-based Fightin’ Commie Anti-Imperialists claimed they did it. You mean Communists lie!?!
All trains were supposed to be PTC compliant by 2020 so why would you add a new line at the end of 2017 without it?!
If the engineer is a government employee, he was probably busy erasing e-mails or watching porn.
I wonder what kind of loco motive the driver had for going that fast.
Engineer, Akmed Akar Mohamad was unavailable for comment.
Maybe he was not sober, so speed was supposed to be a relative item. Too ted is nobody in the railroad to enforce any driver sobriety regulations!
If this is true the locomotive engineer should be criminally tried for manslaughter and civilly sued for wrongful death. For starters.
What are the odds the driver was texting?
The pictures of the train do not correspond to 80 mph. Damages and deaths do not equate to such speed. It looks like a slow motion “accident,” if one thinks just a little. Sabotage is most likely, but what officials are going to give Antifa commies and George Soros the pleasure of possibly being praised by their Media supporters. Liars don’t tell the truth.
So then the story about concrete or something else on the tracks was fake news, or is it once again politically incorrect to place blame where it rightfully belongs?
It was the inaugural run.
Best Engineer and crew.
Everybody watching.
Something is amiss.
I’d be more interested in getting the truth about Las Vegas.
tRuth; I agree this wreckage should be strewn out over half a mile or more at 80 mph and the cars should have launched into the trees. The wheel flanges are only an inch high so there’s not much keeping the wheels on the track in a crash. As a former train engineer I can tell you drug testing is enforced and we were regularly tested. I don’t trust the ntsb anymore than the lying fbi. Why the cover up? Because it would put an end to their utopian dream of train travel and kill the calif train to nowhere.
It always puzzles me they seem to know the cause immediately but then it always takes the ntsb years to conduct an investigation. Trying to come up with the best cover up?
“Was it a white driver?”
Sources close to the investigation say it was a Somali driver who redlined it after becoming enraged by the female computer voice saying, “YOU ARE GOING TOO FAST.”
Should be a lot of people that were on that train that could say if it was doing 80?
When you have been lied to time after time I’m not sure why it is incumbent upon us to tell if it is truth or not? I’m just gonna assume it’s not.
If it was doing 80 on a 30 mph turn, shouldn’t the derailed cars be on the OUTSIDE of the turn?
rickn8or,
The engine plowed straight ahead and ended up down on I-5. The coaches being lighter did not have sufficient momentum to keep going straight and started piling up once they were knocked off their trucks.
a non a moose,
Those are 36-48 inch caliber Doug firs. The math is pretty easy to do. Take a look at the damage they did to that locomotive.
I don’t know what it is about western WA, but we had a cornfield meet down in Kelso back ~ 1992 and a derailment of another Amtrak about six months ago about five miles north of this location. THere was another derailment in Steilacoom back in the 1980’s.
Since when do NTSB investigators disclose inform before an investigation is complete. A cardinal rule is to not jump to conclusions.
Look what 30MPH can do!
Flying Diesel Corps
On September 27, 1955, a 50-car O&W train in Hamilton, New York traveling on a mainline approached a switch set for a siding which led to a coal trestle. Although the engineer fully applied the brakes, the train continued up the siding at more than 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and through the trestle. It was learned that the 213-ton EMD FT diesel locomotive at the head of the train “flew” a distance of 150 feet (46 m) beyond the coal trestle from an elevation of 15 feet (4.6 m); total time of “flight” was later estimated to be between six and seven seconds. Two of the crew were seriously injured, but no crewmen were killed in the wreck.
An investigation by New York state police as to why the switch had been thrown resulted in no arrests. A dinner was later given in honor of the crew who each received a plaque proclaiming them to be members of the O&W’s new “Flying Diesel Corps.” Each plaque was topped with a cast presentation model of their F-unit locomotive; the castings were provided by EMD.
One of the freight cars involved in the accident was loaded with chocolate bars from the Nestlé plant in nearby Fulton, New York. It was said that when the younger residents of Hamilton learned of the spilled candy, they raced to collect what they could, and that as a result candy sales in the town were for some time afterward very low.
Any more reports on concrete poured on the tracks by Antifa? Or is that a dead issue? Just askin.’
Dead Man’s Curve, it’s no place to play
Dead Man’s Curve, you best keep away
Dead Man’s Curve, I can hear ’em say
Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve
~ Jan & Dean – 1964
Antifa cement is not a dead issue, Moe Tom, a covered up issue. BTW, there was a mass casualty training drill right at this site at this same time. Even the Mayor was there with emergency responders. So is the (((media))) reporting this timely coincidence? or the cementing rail tracks threat that is even posted on the internet by Antifa?
I used to drive a locomotive for two years pulling tank cars of dangerous liquid chemicals. Situational awareness is vital.