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Amtrak train derails in Washington; fatalities reported

RIP to those who perished. And godspeed to health for those injured.
 
That part of the tracks is not new. The locomotive appears to be heading north toward the new tracks.
 
calamity said:
Test it? :doh
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Yeah, like running a train over that new track hundreds of times before opening it to the public? Like they fly airplanes a certain number of miles before certifying it for commercial use?
 
Top Cat said:
That part of the tracks is not new. The locomotive appears to be heading north toward the new tracks.
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No, it was heading south towards the main line. I made a map earlier in the thread if you go back to post #16
 
Absentglare said:
Intentional, indiscriminate killing of a population is terrorism.

Is there any reason to believe this is intentional, as opposed to an accident?
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ISIS has made multiple threats on public transportation during the holidays, but otherwise, no.

It just seems so strange that, the first day this train service was opened, this happens.
 
EMNofSeattle said:
That's a good question. I mean if you saw the helicopter video from King5 the cab car* was upright and largely intact on the freeway. However from what I understand seatbelts are not used and in fact I don't recall seeing seatbelts on the last locomotive I got a tour of. I mean so they could either be largely unharmed or died from being thrown if they stopped fast enough.


*Cab car

The train was being pushed, not pulled. they have a locomotive on one side of the train, and a cab car on the other. a cab car is basically the shell of a locomotive but without an engine, but it has all the train controls and they can control the locomotive from the cab car. so the train was being pushed by a powered unit in the rear, and the crew were up front in the cab car which is unpowered, when the train goes the other way the crew goes to the locomotive and the cab car just rolls with the train. this train from what I understand was being controlled from the cab car in front and pushed from the locomotive in the rear.

View attachment 67226249
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I want to retract this, I was a frequent rider of this train for awhile, and knew they used pusher locos and shell cab cars as a standard configuration, the news is now reporting the front was a brand new locomotive and not a shell cab car.
 
EMNofSeattle said:
I want to retract this, I was a frequent rider of this train for awhile, and knew they used pusher locos and shell cab cars as a standard configuration, the news is now reporting the front was a brand new locomotive and not a shell cab car.
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Was this controlled by a train engineer on board? Could this be a matter of error on that person's part?
 
EMNofSeattle said:
if ISIS really wants to strike terror in the heart of America a gallon of crisco shortening and spread it on the locker room floor at all the old folks homes will really have an impact....
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Fearandloathing said:
Or grease sidewalks on hills. That would really work in Seattle and Vancouver.
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A retired railroad guy told me that people used to grease the tracks through this one stretch of our city so the train would buffet and lose coal.
 
This is terrible. My thoughts and prayers go out to the people on the train and their families..

As far as it being a maiden run, that's happened before. About 100 years ago in the North Atlantic. Anyway the last couple of train derailments around here were due to the crew traveling way too fast around curves.
 
The Donald just speaking, using this as an example of why we need to fix our old infrastructure.

His staff really needs to be more on the ball here...they just let him be wrong, again.

This train was on a brand new route, new track.
 
Lursa said:
The Donald just speaking, using this as an example of why we need to fix our old infrastructure.

His staff really needs to be more on the ball here...they just let him be wrong, again.

This train was on a brand new route, new track.
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Yeah, that was odd.

And no, the federal government doesn't need to spend a nickel on infrastructure. That's a state's responsibility.
 
Lursa said:
The Donald just speaking, using this as an example of why we need to fix our old infrastructure.

His staff really needs to be more on the ball here...they just let him be wrong, again.

This train was on a brand new route, new track.
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Just to your earlier question about the crew, I just heard a tape of the BNSF railroad dispatcher, the train engineer was capable of getting to his radio to notify the BNSF Centralia dispatcher of the crash
 
Top Cat said:
Then those are the northbound lanes of I-5?
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No, the southbound.

The train was moving south, and spilled into the southbound lanes
 
Lord of Planar said:
No, probably poor track maintenance of union workers, or the train operator exceeded the track speed.
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Guy you don’t know a god-damned thing. It shows your bias that right away the union must somehow be at fault
 
Was this a brand new track, or was this an old track that was remodeled for Amtrak?
 
EMNofSeattle said:
No, it was heading south towards the main line. I made a map earlier in the thread if you go back to post #16
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If the train was being pushed by the locomotive, then it had to be heading north.

Ok nevermind. I get it now
 
Erod said:
Was this a brand new track, or was this an old track that was remodeled for Amtrak?
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It’s the Lakewood subdivision. The track is new, it was an unused rail line that was refurbished
 
EMNofSeattle said:
Guy you don’t know a god-damned thing. It shows your bias that right away the union must somehow be at fault
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I will admit bias against union workers.

The laziest bust of entitlement minded people I have ever known. I have seen more disregard for proper work for proper pay in all union jobs I ever had vs. all non-union jobs I have ever had.

The unions over protect their workers. My money is on improper maintenance that had a blind eye turned to it. Or, since the train left 30 minutes late, the driver exceeded the limit for that track section.
 
Erod said:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amtrak-train-derailment-tacoma-washington-traffic-today-live-updates/



It has to be asked. Is this terrorism?

ISIS has threatened these kinds of attacks during Christmas.

3 dead so far. Hopefully no one else.
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Hate to say it, but that was an initial thought.

There are thousands upon thousands of km of tracks throughout the world and they’re not monitored.

In Europe they could wreak havoc in a hurry, as trains in Central Europe are a vital mass transit cog. And inter-city high-speed trains a regular service.

Unlike airlines, where you can control the passengers and service crews, once you’re in the air, you’re pretty safe due to the layers of security. Train tracks, train stations... not so.
 
It is always possible that the design engineers did things wrong two. After-all, it was the maiden voyage of a higher speed train.
 
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