Amtrak derailment in Tacoma - multiple fatalities

[MomentsofSanity]

Gawd...that makes me feel OLD.

Feel?

 

[crashtech]

Just horrible, devastating. Although it does look as if some safety improvements have been made to the cars themselves in recent years. I can remember seeing some derailment photos from decades ago where the passenger cars were generally much worse off than what we see here. Not to minimize the suffering of any involved, but it seems likely that if some lessons of the past hadn't been implemented in these cars, the toll could have been much worse.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I just saw this video where a passerby stopped to help people in the wreckage.

This is the conductors call right after the wreck. If you watch this one at 7:35 pay attention to the rutting in the gravel and the downed signal assembly at the beginning of that curve on the outside apex.

 

[NAC4EV]

I found this on YouTube

and this link

http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswi...-tracks-sabotaged-to-stop-fracking-equipment/

 

[feralkid]

I found this on YouTube

and this link

http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswi...-tracks-sabotaged-to-stop-fracking-equipment/

Steaming hose-shit and lunatic conjecture.

 

[skyking]

Those assholes in the video don't know that's a trailing engine, and the front of the train is down on the highway.

 

[Darwin333]

I somehow doubt that fracking equipment was being delivered via this new high speed rail service.

 

[Jhhnn]

That's a whole lot of assumption there, you know what they say about assumption .

Indeed it is. The most likely culprit is defective equipment.

 

[skyking]

The new rails and ties were impressive, the old stuff was just amazingly rickety, LOL. I would be digging out there, and a military trainload of tanks and equipment would rumble into view doing about 10~15 MPH.
We would ground our equipment and watch them go by, rocking and clanking on these short sections of rail and loose ties, etc.
The new rail sections were 1600' long or so, and welded at the joints and ground smooth. They came in on these long trains with rollers on the cars, so the track could move as the train went around corners. The ties are pre-stressed concrete with fixtures build in to set the rail gauge.

 

[K1052]

The locomotive was brand new and the cars only a few years old. I’d suspect overspeed into the turn or something on the tracks, in that order.

 

[Victorian Gray]

I found this on YouTube

and this link

http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswi...-tracks-sabotaged-to-stop-fracking-equipment/

People should stop looking for shit on YouTube because that's what you end up finding, shit.

Antifa doesn't give a damn about fracking (unless, of course, it's Nazi fracking).

http://www.newsweek.com/antifa-fals...ailment-right-wing-conspiracy-peddlers-751893

 

[Puffnstuff]

Looks like the track speed limit at that curve is 30mph so speed was definitely a factor in this derailment. This excerpt is taken from the link below:

The track speed limit at the derailment site is 30 mph, said Rachelle Cunningham with Sound Transit, which managed the track upgrade in preparation for commuter service. She does not know what speed the train was traveling at the time of the accident.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/18/us/amtrak-derailment-washington/index.html

 

[Jhhnn]

removed erroneous post.

 

[Jhhnn]

.

 

[JSt0rm]

http://komonews.com/news/local/lake...eadly-accidents-from-high-speed-train-service


lolololol

 

[NAC4EV]

That is a sharp turn for a train to take at high speed.

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.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...iled-in-washington-has-speed-limit-of-30-mph/

 

[MomentsofSanity]

unsurprising speed probably caused this. There was no positive train control system on this stretch. Congress mandated this originally to be in place until 2015 but that was delayed due to costs.

 

[UNCjigga]

http://komonews.com/news/local/lake...eadly-accidents-from-high-speed-train-service


lolololol

Wow, so a community sued to stop the high speed rail service citing safety concerns with the I-5 bypass, but lost? Lakewood Mayor basically said "come back to me after the accident and tell me why there wasn't money for safety improvements". That sounds pretty damning.

 

[BoomerD]

Wow, so a community sued to stop the high speed rail service citing safety concerns with the I-5 bypass, but lost? Lakewood Mayor basically said "come back to me after the accident and tell me why there wasn't money for safety improvements". That sounds pretty damning.

From what I can tell, the mayor was concerned about the high speed trains and pedestrian/auto traffic as it went through his town, NOT the area where this accident occurred.

 

[Puffnstuff]

unsurprising speed probably caused this. There was no positive train control system on this stretch. Congress mandated this originally to be in place until 2015 but that was delayed due to costs.

I'm wondering if the speed limit signs were properly posted along that stretch of track. The fact that the signal just before the curve was laying on the ground makes me wonder just how well it was inspected for all regulatory compliance or if it was just rushed into service to look good. Nevertheless, there are dead and injured people because of negligence and that has to be accounted for.

 

[BoomerD]

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/amtrak-tr...-derailed-113307023--abc-news-topstories.html

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said overnight Tuesday that the train was traveling 80 mph in a 30-mph zone, according to the black box recovered from the accident.

-Investigators have yet to interview the crew and engineer in the accident, and were unsure of why the train was going so fast.

 

[K1052]

Maybe congress should have chucked in some actual funding to go along with the PTC mandate.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Maybe congress should have chucked in some actual funding to go along with the PTC mandate.

Think about how many times it was waived during the last administration and think about how it will be ignored if not reversed during this one to help the rich save money. I did several legal and ethical research papers during college on the transit of crude oil that included segments on PTC that exposed the waivers issued to large railroads

This current administration is tearing down all of the protections that were put into place in the name of profits so I expect for them to gut this one too. AMTRAK's high speed service has been limited across the country due to the excessive amount of level crossings along routes which restrict high speed operations. This is why Acela is limited to the NE and unless new lines are elevated to eliminate contact with motor vehicles this will continue to be the case. Trump's budget cuts will probably impact their Avelia replacement as well.

https://www.amtrak.com/acela-express-train

 

[interchange]

How much does PTC cost? It seems to me not that difficult to at least develop a warning system.

 

[Puffnstuff]

How much does PTC cost? It seems to me not that difficult to at least develop a warning system.

It's expensive as the system is on-board the train as well as along the tracks, however, it would've prevented this accident.