2017 Washington train derailment

On December 18, 2017, Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501 derailed near DuPont, Washington, United States. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) final report said regional transit authority Sound Transit failed to take steps to mitigate a curve at the accident location, and inadequately trained the train's engineer.[1][2] The train was making the inaugural run of the Point Defiance Bypass, a new passenger rail route south of Tacoma, Washington operated by Amtrak in partnership with state and local authorities in Oregon and Washington, on right-of-way owned and operated by Sound Transit. The bypass was intended to reduce congestion and separate passenger and freight traffic, and was designed for faster speeds and shorter travel times (saving ten minutes from Seattle to Portland) than the previous route used by Cascades.[3]

2017 DuPont train derailment
Aerial view of the wreckage after the derailment.*
Details
DateDecember 18, 2017 (2017-12-18)
07:33 local time (15:33 UTC)
LocationNear DuPont, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates47.0820°N 122.6757°W / 47.0820; -122.6757
CountryUnited States
LinePoint Defiance Bypass
OperatorAmtrak
Incident typeDerailment caused by overspeed
CauseTechnological error and poor training
Statistics
Trains1
Vehicles8
Passengers77
Crew6
Deaths3
Injured65 (57 on train, 8 in road vehicles)

The lead locomotive and all twelve cars derailed at 07:33 local time while approaching a bridge over Interstate 5 (I-5). The trailing locomotive remained on the rails. A number of automobiles on southbound I-5 were crushed and three people on board the train died. The train derailed a short distance from where the new route merges with the previous route.

Preliminary data from the data recorder showed that the train was traveling at 78 miles per hour (126 km/h),[4] nearly 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) over the speed limit, when the incident happened.[5]

Background
Main article: Point Defiance Bypass
Overview of new Amtrak Cascades inland route (red; to the south), showing accident location, and old shoreline route (green; to the north)

The Point Defiance Bypass was built from 2010 to 2017 as a replacement for the BNSF mainline that runs along the Puget Sound coast between the Nisqually River and Tacoma. The $181 million bypass, using an inland route that follows I-5, was built by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) on right of way owned by Sound Transit, the regional transit authority.[3][6] The Amtrak Cascades service is a joint effort of WSDOT and Oregon Department of Transportation, with Amtrak as a contracting operator.[7] In the wake of the December 18 derailment, the safety of the bypass was questioned by elected officials.[8] The 2006 Cascades corridor plan recommended that the curve and overpass where the derailment occurred be replaced with a straighter alignment, costing $412 million. The final plans omitted the overpass replacement, with a smaller budget of $180 million granted for the entire project.[9]

Derailment
Schematic site overview. The lead locomotive is the leftmost vehicle and stopped in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5. The train's rear locomotive is top-right. One car lies inverted under the bridge (shown in blue).

At 07:33 local time (15:33 UTC), the leading locomotive and twelve cars of the southbound Amtrak Cascades number 501 passenger train derailed southwest of DuPont.[10] DuPont is about 40 mi (64 km) south of Seattle and about 5 mi (8.0 km) south of the Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM) main gate. The train derailed while approaching the railroad bridge across southbound I-5 near Mounts Road,[11] which contains a left-hand bend.[12]

The lead locomotive, a new Siemens Charger No. 1402,[10] and six rail cars went down the embankment to the west of the bridge (to the train's right, in the original direction of travel); the locomotive ended up on I-5 and spilled about 350 US gal (1,300 L) of fuel.[13] Two further cars ended up on the bridge span, and three cars went off the railroad bridge abutment on the opposite side, some onto I-5.[14][15] The trailing General Electric Genesis P42DC locomotive, No. 181, remained on the tracks.[10] Seven vehicles, including two trucks, were damaged by the derailed cars of the train.[16]

The southbound train was operating between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, on the first revenue service run of the Cascades on the new, faster Point Defiance Bypass route between Lacey and Tacoma.[6] The train was running about 30 minutes behind schedule.[17][18] Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that positive train control was not active on the track,[19] a factor cited in two accidents along a curve in Spuyten Duyvil and a similar crash along a curve in Port Richmond, Philadelphia.[20][21]

Casualties

There were five Amtrak employees, a technician from train manufacturer Talgo,[22] and 77 passengers on board the train at the time of the derailment.[23][24][25] Three passengers were killed while 57 more passengers and crew members were injured.[23][12][26] Eight road vehicles were damaged in the accident. Of the ten people in them, eight were injured. All three deceased were in the seventh coach of the train.[26] Ten of the injured were in serious condition, and thirteen had moderate or minor injuries.[27] In total, more than 80 people were injured.[28] Treatment was provided at hospitals including Madigan Army Medical Center at JBLM, Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Tacoma General Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, and St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood.[29][11] Three soldiers from JBLM, including a Madigan Army Medical Center nurse, left their vehicles to give medical assistance to people trapped inside the train cars, and help them escape.[30]

The three passengers killed in the derailment were train enthusiasts, including two members of rail advocacy group All Aboard Washington.[31][32]

Aftermath
WSDOT-recommended detour routes on the evening of December 18 extended more than 70 mi (110 km) for the northern route with a travel time over 90 minutes, or alternatively, a southern route of 50 mi (80 km), with a travel time over 2 hours.[11][33] Under normal conditions, driving 29 mi (47 km) from Tacoma to Olympia takes about 30 minutes.[34]

Amtrak temporarily suspended service for south of Seattle for several hours because of the accident,[25] resuming on the former coast route and the old Tacoma station.[35][36] Southbound automobile traffic was rerouted away from I-5 by WSDOT until the site was cleared of debris and inspected.[37] On December 18, JBLM allowed southbound traffic through from DuPont to State Route 510 near Lacey.[38]

WSDOT announced on December 21 that it would not resume Amtrak service on the Point Defiance Bypass until positive train control was implemented in 2018.[39] The accident caused at least $40 million in damage, including the cost of the trainset, damage to vehicles, and damage to the overpass.[23]

Cleanup and freeway reopening

Some of the wrecked train cars were removed by trucks on December 19.[40] Two southbound lanes of I-5 were reopened on December 20, with a reduced speed limit, as the cleanup and investigation continued.[41][42] By the morning of December 21, all lanes of the freeway had been reopened.[43]

Fate of rolling stock
See also: List of Amtrak rolling stock
Damage to the locomotive after the crash.

Locomotive WDTX 1402 and all passenger stock was written off and scrapped. Locomotive AMTK 181 was undamaged and returned to service.[26]

Response

Within hours of the derailment, Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency and activated the Washington Military Department's emergency operations center at Camp Murray, adjacent to JBLM, to coordinate the multi-agency response to the incident.[29][44]

A civilian support and reunification center was set up at DuPont City Hall.[45] The Bloodworks Northwest blood bank called for donors after the crash.[46]

President Donald Trump said on Twitter a few hours after the accident that the derailment shows that his "soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be passed quickly." He said "several trillion dollars" were spent in the Middle East while the transport infrastructure "crumble[s]". A second tweet said his "thoughts and prayers are with everyone", and he thanked first responders.[47] The Associated Press and The New York Times reports of Trump's tweets said the accident had occurred on newly constructed track that was part of a recently upgraded line.[17][48] The New York Times added that this project was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, an act signed by President Barack Obama that aimed to address infrastructure shortfalls.[17]

The New York Times editorial board said that the derailment is symptomatic of the Federal Government's failure to invest in infrastructure. It said that despite Trump seemingly acknowledging the problem, his administration's $630 million budget cuts to Amtrak, and a proposed plan to shift infrastructure costs down to state and local governments, would only serve to aggravate the problem.[49]

Investigation
NTSB engineers examine the locomotive event recorder two days after the derailment

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened an investigation into the accident[10] and dispatched a 20-member Go Team to the crash site.[50] The NTSB said its investigators would be on-site for seven to ten days.[16] One aspect of the investigation is whether the engineer lost situational awareness.[51]

The NTSB said the train was traveling at 80 mph (130 km/h) at a point soon before it derailed.[52] The speed limit on the curved track segment where the derailment occurred is 30 mph (48 km/h),[53] but the preceding track segment north of Mounts Road has a limit of 79 mph (127 km/h).[54] An initial review by the NTSB said that the train data recorders had been recovered from both locomotives. The recorder showed that the engineer had commented on the train's excessive speed six seconds before the derailment, and applied the brakes. The lead locomotive was traveling at 78 mph (126 km/h) when recording stopped. The NTSB said their investigation would take 12 to 24 months.[55] A preliminary report into the accident was published on January 4, 2018.[56]

The NTSB interviewed the train's engineer, who suffered serious injuries, in January. He told investigators that he did not see the advance speed sign or milepost 18, mistakenly thinking he was at milepost 17. The engineer applied the train's brakes after seeing the final speed signpost, immediately north of the curve.[57]

In its final hearing on May 21, 2019, the NTSB blamed the crash on Sound Transit's failure to mitigate the curve, and for Sound Transit failing to adequately train the engineer to handle the situation on the new line and equipment.[1][2] The NTSB stated that the crew was attentive and not distracted by conversation or cellular telephones. Although the engineer knew about the 30 mile-per-hour curve ahead, he had missed the single sign telling him to slow down; he also missed the milepost markers. As the train approached the curve, the train signaled a warning, but the engineer, being new to the Charger locomotive, had to study the console to decipher the warning. It was an overspeed warning: the train was moving faster than 80 miles per hour (130 km/h), the maximum speed on the line. (It was not warning the engineer about approaching the 30-mile-per-hour (48 km/h) section; the system did not have that capability.) During the 20 seconds that the engineer was deciphering the warning, he was not looking outside and therefore could not see the approaching danger. When he did look up, it was too late.

Litigation

In January 2020, the train's engineer filed a personal injury lawsuit against Amtrak, claiming that the company failed to properly train him to operate the train and to operate over the route, and that they failed to complete installation of Positive Train Control over the route.[58]

See also

References
  1. Lindblom, Mike (May 21, 2019). "NTSB 'amazed at the amount of failure' by agencies in fatal 2017 Amtrak derailment south of Tacoma". The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  2. "Inadequate Planning, Insufficient Training Led to Fatal Amtrak Train Derailment" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. May 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  3. "Point Defiance Bypass". Sound Transit. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  4. "NTSB Conducts Initial Review of Amtrak Train Recorders" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. December 22, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  5. Lazo, Luz; Halsey, Ashley III (December 18, 2017). "At least 3 killed after Amtrak train derails in Washington state, spilling onto busy highway". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  6. Sailor, Craig (December 9, 2017). "One of last great Washington train rides coming to an end". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  7. "Statement on Amtrak Cascades derailment" (Press release). Washington State Department of Transportation. December 18, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  8. Sailor, Craig (December 18, 2017). "It should have been a celebration for new $181 million train route. What went wrong?". The News Tribune. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  9. Mann, Ted (December 22, 2017). "The Deadly Curve Where Amtrak Train Derailed Was Deemed Too Costly to Remove". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
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  15. "Photos: Amtrak train plunges off tracks, closes I-5 south of Tacoma". KOMO. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
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  55. "NTSB Conducts Initial Review of Amtrak Train Recorders" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017. About six seconds prior to the derailment, the engineer made a comment regarding an over speed condition. The engineer's actions were consistent with the application of the locomotive's brakes just before the recording ended. It did not appear the engineer placed the brake handle in emergency-braking mode. The recording ended as the locomotive was tilting and the crew was bracing for impact. The final recorded speed of the locomotive was 78 mph.
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