At least three dead after Amtrak train hurtles off overpass, no word on cause

PIERCE COUNTY, WA. (NEWS 1130) – Washington State Patrol now says at least three people have died and more than 100 were transported to hospital in a high speed commuter train derailment south of Tacoma. Initial reports were of six deaths.

The Amtrak passenger train plunged off an overpass onto the busy Interstate 5 freeway south of Tacoma on Monday morning. Investigators have confirmed it was the train’s inaugural run between Tacoma and Olympia, on newly constructed tracks.

“We have fatalities and casualties,” says Detective Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. “This is a regional mass casualty response.”

Amtrak says about 77 passengers and five crew members were on board the train, which left the tracks about 65 kilometres south of Seattle around 7:40 am. At least 50 people have been hospitalized, more than a dozen with critical or serious injuries.

Troyer has not been able to confirm reports the train may have hit something before it went off the tracks.

“Any speculation on the cause of the crash is just speculation at this point. There is no official word. And we’re using all our resources to do as much as we possibly can to help everybody who’s been affected by this.”

Chris Karnes, the chair of the Pierce County Transit Advisory Board, is one of the survivors.

“Well we were going down the tracks between 70 and 80 miles an hour, I would say. We heard a creaking, a little bit of a creaking sound, and the train started to wobble. And then we were catapaulted at the seats in front of us. The next thing we knew, our car had crumpled a portion at the top and we were down an embankment.”

Lora Reed who lives near Dupont admits she’s worried about the safety of the newly constructed bypass.

“I’m just wondering if they did any dry runs on this before the passengers on board. Yeah, it’s a terrible thing, very upsetting.”

In a radio transmission immediately after the accident, the train’s conductor can be heard saying the train was coming around a corner and was crossing a bridge that passed over Interstate 5 when it derailed.

“I’m still figuring that out. We’ve got cars everywhere and down onto the highway,” he tells the dispatcher, who asks if everyone is OK.

The train was making the inaugural run on the new route as part of a $180.7 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that’s bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.

The Amtrak Cascades train service is jointly owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation. Amtrak operates the service for the two states as a contractor and is responsible for day-to-day operations. Amtrak Cascades runs trains from Vancouver, BC, to Eugene, Oregon.