Washington train crash

[Gangster Octopus]

Looks like it could be nasty.

[ursus arctos]

"Several" deaths reported.

Something went very wrong here. This was the inaugural public run on a Seattle/Portland route that bypassed some traditional bottlenecks, but the route had been heavily tested, and it isn't yet clear that the derailment occurred on "new" track.

[Gerontophile]

Fucking hell. It went off a bridge???

[Tubby Isaacs]

Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realDonaldTrump
The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!
10:41 AM - 18 Dec 2017

What a guy.

[Toby Gymshorts]

He's such a patriot.

[ursus arctos]

Reports that it is now thought that there was something on the tracks that caused the derailment. Death toll now up to 6.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Nigel Harris @RAIL
Shouldn’t jump to conclusions but you can hazard a guess at the investigators’ likely early focus....

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'm not certain what he means. Maybe that the train went too fast round the curve, as well as what was on the track.

[blameless]

Surely if carrying too much speed into the curve was the cause of the derailment, momentum would have carried it off into the trees rather than down onto the highway?

Regardless, this is awful news - train crashes are a dreadful business even when there isn't a loss of life, and exponentially worse when there is.

[Satchmo Distel]

The Trump tweet seems to assume this occurred on old infrastructure when infact it was new.

[ad hoc]

It was travelling at 80mph in a 30 mph zone apparently.

[Ek weet nie]

Was the driver one of the fatalities? Reminiscent of the 2013 Spanish train crash.

[blameless]

Driver's reportedly injured, but still alive.

[Guy Profumo]

I'm not certain what he means. Maybe that the train went too fast round the curve, as well as what was on the track.

Initial reports (from the trailing, but not powered) locomotive's black box suggest this might be correct.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42408624

[Muukalainen]

What he says:

The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!

What he actually is doing:

However US media outlets pointed out his submitted federal transportation budget actually proposed cuts to funding to national rail systems.

[Kevin S]

Surely if carrying too much speed into the curve was the cause of the derailment, momentum would have carried it off into the trees rather than down onto the highway?

And that is indeed what happened to the front power car:

[blameless]

Ah, that would make sense. Thanks KS.

[ursus arctos]

The speed limit on the staight approaching the curve is 79 mph, the limit on the curve is 30

[Muukalainen]

What warning system of travelling too fast is in use? The information I've read so far seems to be surprisingly vague about it.

[WOM]

Does it ever come down to anything other than human error on these things? Driver texting...driver drunk....driver letting 13-year old nephew 'have a go' at the tiller, etc.

[ad hoc]

Does it ever come down to anything other than human error on these things? Driver texting...driver drunk....driver letting 13-year old nephew 'have a go' at the tiller, etc.

Yes - stuff on the tracks, points stuck, etc.

[Tubby Isaacs]

WOM, Rail Magazine this month would interest you. A supplement on major UK rail accidents since yonks ago.

[ursus arctos]

Dinh-Zarr said the agency’s team of investigators would include at least a dozen specialists in train operations, mechanics, tracks, signal systems, human performance and survival factors. The lead investigator is Ted Turpin, who also worked on the 2015 Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia and was the lead investigator for the Long Island Rail Road train crash at New York’s Atlantic Terminal early this year.

She said NTSB investigators will also be assessing what crash-avoidance technology existed on the tracks or on the train and whether that technology functioned properly.

Though Amtrak trains are equipped with it, the railroad said the train was not using positive train control, a system that would have slowed it as it entered the curve. The system requires that sensors also be placed along the rail bed, and those were not scheduled to be in place until sometime next year, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The debate over Positive Train Control within the rail community here is very intense.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'd never heard of it. Do we call it something different?

We had a big debate about Automatic Train Protection here after the Southall crash in 1997. I think it was considered too expensive. We've nonetheless got an excellent safety record.

Had the driver not learnt the route properly?

[WOM]

It was the inaugural high-speed run, apparently.