The "Cascades" has been running for quite a few years. Based on what I read, there had been some recent renovations to the rail line, which may explain why it is being referred to as an inaugural service.
The latest info was that there have been at least 3 fatalities.

The following info was moved from another post that I had submitted just prior to Mr Vuye (What up Jacques?)

The "Cascades" is the Amtrak train which is based on the Spanish Talgo design. The lead locomotive was one of the new Siemens Charger Diesel locomotives, which went off the rails. The pusher locomotive (GE P42DC) at the rear remains on the tracks.

More information at CNN, BBC and Yahoo.com, including video reports

Regards

Mike C

A streetview perspective from the I-5 highway at that derail bridge - which is where the southbound rail lines cross over the southbound highway lanes:

https://goo.gl/maps/4ybj4irRv6P2


So the derail took the train off the tracks as it came around this curve going right to left and it came off of the bridge onto the road below.



- Google Maps Link

Some reports are suggesting the train hit something before it got to the bend and derailed fully. Not sure if that is true but there are some historical issues with Talgo and the Cascades run ( http://www.on-track-on-l...ndex.php?showtopic=19231 ) though the news articles are no longer up so it would take more digging. I wonder if the wheels literally came off the bus?


From 2007:
https://www.seattletimes...on-seattle-eugene-route/





I'd look at the suspensions very carefully.

It very much appears that the lead Siemens Charger (SC44) locomotive came of the tracks and rolled down the embankment to the right of the overpass. When the locomotive came to a stop, the force of the rear locomotive pushing the consist caused the remaining coaches to accordion, which led to some of them derailing to the right, before a few of the coaches went off the left embankment and the start of the bridge. Those cars seem to have impacted against a truck hauling a container, and this caused one of the coaches to invert, with another coach coming to a stop on top of it and against the container.

http://railcolornews.com...des-chargers-rolled-out/

Regards

Mike C

Local evening news is giving us new perspective and images showing what mike described.

All very saddened by this horrible accident. Prayers offered for the victims.
Last May, I saw the sister locomotive #1403 Siemens SC-44 Charger at an open house at King Street Station in Seattle.
Photos of the lok...




and a commemorative patch

yea, WTF is up with a 30MPH limit on such a line, 30???? (that is just 48km/h for metric folks) as a speed LIMIT!!!!! Pathetic. Steam locos had 50Km/h limits when going backwards 100 years ago.

Clearly the track is so crappy it cant handle 80MPH but what a pathetic state of affairs.

No the track itself is fine, the issue is the angle of the end. The track runs along parallel to the motorway for some time and the. Has to make almost a 45 deg left turn to cross over the motorway bridge without any super elevation of the turn. It was build for very slow freight traffic that right if way and line. For then it have made it 60 mph would have required a completely new bridge and right If way with massive new roadbed construction. This is the US there passenger rail had been going backwards in time since the jet age started and it is now vet baby steps forward.

An update as the investigating agency in the US (National Transportation Safety Board - NTSB) has released some details from the interviews of the train's engineer.

For the turn at mile post 19.8, he knew he had to slow from 80 down to 30mph. He saw the mile posts for 16 and 17 but doesn't recall seeing mile posts 18 or 19 nor the speed limit sign. The engineer had only driven this newly opened track once in that direction prior to this run. When he saw the 19.8 signage for the turn and speed he mistook the signage for something other than what it mean to his train. (Seattle Times article)

The signs for mileposts are short and small - think the milepost markers on highways and the old stone markers by the track side. So they are not up at the cab's line of sight - the engineer has to be able to see them by the trackside. Google Streetview shows the markers for 19 and 18 clearly enough:

The milepost at 19 is quite visible but short (or at least it was in 2015 when this google streetview was created, I assume it was updated to the MP18 marker since 2015 when the track was renovated for this run):

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0853244,-122.6563124,3a,43.1y,269.75h,88.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTT3ZnPRjefg74n47-cMpDA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


So is the milepost at 18, quite visible and tall enough (and this is from Aug 2017 streetview images):

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0904183,-122.6371994,3a,86.3y,231.35h,74.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDNI-siuk63OvyDBS9XTeNg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


However, especially at the MP 18 sign, there are many tracks running past that milepost marker, and if the train was on one of the left tracks (ie not the right most track), seeing the sign might be a bit more difficult) and if a train was parked on the tracks between this train and the milepost, then it would have been totally obscured.

From my laypersons view, this accident was an inevitable consequence of several factors:

1) In the west of the US and most of it really, there is only diesel traffic, so there are no posts or overhead to attach signage to - this means signage will be driven into the ground where needed and thus be low to the ground, as almost all of the traffic is very slow freight traffic. For that type of traffic those signage rules work just fine, as they have since the 1960's. For 2018 with an 80mph train running through on of multiple tracks, spotting a small trackside low milepost that might be obscured is NOT a good system to rely on to start a braking maneuver.

2) The engineer had only one run in that direction on a brand new track run that was coming into service.

3) There is no other information the engineer has in the cab to indicate when and where braking has to happen, it seems. No route map with other landmarks to key off of, just the small milepost markers next to the tracks.

4) The track signage/design/layout/paperwork/operations view are all from a 30-40mph world of freight running, and not suited for higher speed 80mph traffic: that needs to be updated. The 19mp marker was from a 2015 photo, while the 18mp marker was from just this past 2017 summer, so the newer markers (MP18) are big and tall - but can be obscured on a multi-track layout.


My expectation of what will happen is that there needs to be tall-visible signs of braking points for speed limits put up at cab window level on all the tracks that such higher speed trains can come through on, and additional landmark data provided for the route paperwork so there is backup if the signs are damaged/obscured by standing trains.


The talk about the not yet operational electronic safety system is misplaced - yes it would have prevented the incident if it was operational but it should not have to be present if the engineer is awake and lucid - there is no reason the run cannot be safely done with visual cues and paperwork.


No new investigation results yet, just adding the Wikipedia article around the crash:

Quote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Washington_train_derailment

Edited by user 03 April 2018 18:12:32(UTC)  | Reason: Added link to wikipedia article about the crash