Track engineers and enthusiasts, does it change significantly when on an overpass? Seems a little coincidental it derails at the overpass to a busy interstate.

What's coincidental is this is the first day of a new route, with higher speeds. Just two days ago I was looking to book a round trip from Seattle to Portland.

Yeah, I saw that and would assume plenty of testing was done at those higher speeds. Speed obviously hasn't prevented previous crashes, but it didn't look like this was on a particularly sharp corner where speed would have been much of a factor.

Trains dont just derail or fall off tracks but derailment are worse when the bogies are under each carriage rather than between them.

High speed trains have them between them so the train stays together. When they are under each carriage they can go in every direction.

Can't see from the video but it looks more like a commuter train than euro or japan high speed train.

Speed, track condition, train maintenance are all factors but if i were to bet it's the first two.

I spent 6 years with Alstom transport rail division. I never dealt with a derailment or catastrophic failure (other than being ona depot on 7/7 and planning the rebuilding of the jean charles de menendez train with a dozen bullet holes in it) but i have a friend was in China as part of the investigation in to a high speed rail derailment. It was operating (signaling) error, not the train or the track

I read in some of the coverage that US rail fatalities are twice that of Europe. Would be interesting to know why

That would be surprising since I would assume Europe has a lot more trains in highly populated areas vs the US. But, with that being said yesterday in Iowa corn country, my drive home was delayed because someone tried to beat the train across the tracks (and failed).

I believe the VAST majority of the rail deaths reflected in statistics are not passengers, but rather are "bystanders." E.g., drivers trying to beat trains across crossings, pedestrians not paying attention, etc.

Consider the fact that the US likely has vastly more miles of rail and crossings (just due to the US's sheer size advantage over Europe), and do the math.

The above is guesstimation on my part.

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War is god

I think that was for the straightaway. The curve in front of the trestle usually demands that trains heading into it slow to about 30 mph to round the curve. In these derailments it's usually not an equipment defect but, rather operator error and/or excessive speed, from what I've seen.

Anyone seen any updates?

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Looks like that curve did have a speed limit of 30 mph:

"The Amtrak train that derailed Monday morning on its inaugural trip through a faster railway route was supposed to slow dramatically before entering the curve where the crash occurred. The speed limit at the curve where the train crosses Interstate 5 is 30 miles per hour, said state transportation department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe, while the speed limit on most of the track is 79 mph. She said speed-limit signs are posted two miles before the lowered speed zone and then just before the zone. “Engineers are trained to slow trains according to posted speeds,” she said."

Credible sources say the train was traveling at 81 mph when entering the curve. I don't know if that's true or not.

Curve where Amtrak train derailed in Washington has speed limit of 30 mph | The Seattle Times

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Amazing! They have self driving cars that have to deal with thousands of obstacles. But Amtrak can't get a train to automatically slow down on tight corners.

Happened in Spain a few years ago

Engineer texting on his phone?

(Wouldn't be the first time.)

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

80 mph. 1.25 miles per minute. From sign to curve 2 miles or 3 mins. If he was still flat out going in to curve its game over but elsewhere in the world brakes are triggered automatically if going faster than specific speed in to curve I think

There were supposed to be some sort of "positive train control" protocols the crews are supposed to follow. I'm curious to see if they did so on this train because, on the face of things, it appears they didn't. The trackage was brand new, as well, and controls and signals had been upgraded.

There was an Amtrak derailment several years ago, and a newspaper looking into it found lax enforcement of protocols by Amtrak. Also, that Amtrak had a habit of promoting from within when it came to engineers, moving people up into the position, such as former porters and stewards, who may not have been ideally suited for the job, even after training.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

New just reported that the train did not have the technology.

At least one person is going to jail (did driver survive?)

Pure speculation, the engineer forgot to take the tool box off the deadman...

"Bella Dinh-Zarr of the NTSB, speaking to reporters before midnight Monday night upon her arrival at the Sea-Tac International Airport, reported that data from the train's rear engine marked the train's speed at 80 mph. Sound Transit confirmed to SeattlePI that the Interstate 5 overpass south of Tacoma where the crash occurred carries a 30 mph speed limit.
Amtrak's president told reporters that positive train control — the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train — wasn't in use on the stretch of track in Washington state where a deadly derailment occurred."

That will do it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ntsb-train-was-traveling-twice-the-speed-limit-before-derailment/ar-BBGYEPN?li=BBnb7Kz

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Still mind boggling!

In this world of SAFETY FIRST on everything. They spend $800 million on some new faster train and the don't even have something as simple as a GPS warning devise to warn a conductor of an upcoming tight corner?
The personal injury lawyers must be lining up right now.

The engineers were all supposed to have done some sort of check ride or two on that route, in order to become familiar with the signage and the turns and the speed requirements and limits. I wonder what went on here?

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Missed the sign. Ever missed the junction on a freeway?

Only took 2 mins from sign to crash

Passenger rail is a 19th century technology and anachronism that's somehow survived into the 21st century. Not nearly flexible enough to be a meaningful appendage of mass transit. Plus, it rarely ever pays for itself, which isn't that big a deal as long as we all agree that it's something we should pay for and that provides enough payoff in other ways to make sense. Right now, I don't think it does. Maybe the Euros and the Asians have figured it out, but we certainly haven't.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

I just got back from Moscow. The metro there is a revelation. Runs constantly (never have to wait more than about 2mins on a platform), goes all over the city (never have to walk more than 4 or 5 blocks to find a station), is basically clean, no crime, and cheap as dirt (about $0.50 to ride as far as you want to go). Of course, it's heavily government subsidized, but that's a separate issue.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

I loved having rail transport when we lived in Europe. We could walk from our house to the station, get on a nice clean train, and in less time than it would take to drive you'd be in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, etc. Then it was public transport all over the city (with an occasional cab ride). Those were the days.......

Of course, the fares didn't cover the costs associated with keeping the trains running. But that's how people there wanted their tax money spent. Different cultures, population density, and general expectations, but it sure was nice.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

I am not sure you understand how mass transit works...........

High speed rail serves Europe, Japan, China and elsewhere pretty well.

We Americans love our cars. Rail is for other people.

Hence, my observation about all you Eurotrash types (hahaha!) having figured it all out. What's for sure, is that we haven't. One look at California's high speed rail project will tell you everything you need to know about where we are on the learning curve. ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

You have never ridden the Long Island Rail Road have you? 400k passengers a day. I don't know if its profitable, but its necessary if you work in NY city and live outside the city.

I've ridden it. And the Acela and several other commuter rail lines as well as Amtrak cross-country. We suck at passenger rail, for a variety of reasons. But the technology, at heart, is still rooted in the 19th century. You can't just up and move rail lines and stations and re-lay them where needed, though I'm not sure that should even be a requirement to justify rail (let alone high-speed rail... and in the U.S., outside of that Rhode Island and Massachusetts 28-mile-long stretch, where speeds can hit 150 mph, rail is largely limited to, at best, 110 mph).

Rail takes a comprehensive commitment on all fronts, public and private, which we don't have. And like another poster observed, we love our cars and aren't going to easily give them up, absent the feds coming in and forcibly taking them away, I suppose.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Oh, I agree. What I'm saying is that we're nowhere close to being as good at rail -- let alone high-speed rail (where our SUCKAGE is YUUUUUGE! ;-) -- as those folks in Europe and Asia. Some of this is partly for cultural/societal reasons and some partly because our passenger rail infrastructure is a joke, and public and private coordination in improving it is mostly nonexistent. For rail, which I doubt actually pays for itself anywhere in the world (and that's fine with me), we first have to overcome our obsession with making sure it doesn't cost us big money in subsidizing it.

We mostly don't sell rail the right way, I think. I have no problem with subsidizing it -- lavishly, even -- as long as I'm assured that it's money being put to efficient use. Will it be at a high-enough rate to justify the losses we see with Amtrak (except for, maybe, Acela) and other passenger rail lines?

I'm no expert on rail, that's for sure. So if some of the folks who are could lay out for us just how we can ramp it up here in the US, I'm all eyes and ears. :-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Rail pays all over the world on may fronts.

Hitachi give rolling stock away in return for 30 year maintenance contracts.

Banks and the TOC's (train operating companies working under franchises appointed by the government) all make cash. Banks by underwriting rolling stock over a 20-30 year contract. TOC's by taking on contracts where the risk is public, the profit private and if you don't think that's possible look at the ones that have walked out of contracts.

Public private finance is well established in Europe Asia and Australasia where every thing from schools to hospitals to new rail lines are done on government contracts with a government guarantee because the risk of lending over a 30 year period is so great.