“Derailment” is not an appropriate term for this accident as an Amtrack passenger train hurtled from the rails near 70 MPH on the first-ever run (at speed) along this line. At least six people have been killed. There were 78 people on board for the inaugural run.
DUPONT, Wash. (AP) — An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least six people, authorities said.
Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train moving at more than 80 mph derailed about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Seattle before 8 a.m., Amtrak said.
There was no immediate word on why the train left the tracks.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said several vehicles on Interstate 5 were struck by falling train cars and multiple motorists were injured. No fatalities of motorists were reported. (read more)
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.
It left Seattle around 6 a.m., according to an Amtrak schedule, and was due in Portland about 3 1/2 hours later.
The new route includes a bypass built on an existing inland rail line that runs along Interstate 5 from Tacoma to DuPont, near where Train 501 derailed. Track testing was completed in January and February in advance of Monday’s launch, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The mayor of Lakewood, Washington, a city along the new route, predicted a deadly crash — but one involving a fast-moving train hitting a car or pedestrian at a grade-crossing. At a public meeting two weeks ago, he called on state planners to build overpass-like rail structures instead of having trains cross busy streets.
“Come back when there is that accident and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements,” Anderson said, according to Seattle television station KOMO. “Or you can go back now and advocate for the money to do it, because this project was never needed and endangers our citizens.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it has a team of investigators on the way from Washington, D.C. (read more)
The Engineer has feces in his cranium!
near I-5, DuPont, WA 98327
https://goo.gl/maps/9qH5YqGqKss
Take a look at the map. There is a set of S curves that enables crossing the freeway. This is 35mph track section, not 75 mph.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centripetal_force
The Centripetal force that tended to cause the train to follow the curved track was the force between the outside track and the flanges of the outside wheels. Unfortunately; the force vastly exceeded the holding force of the railroad spikes.
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Well, then this was a suicide run.
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I’ve ridden this Edmonds WA to Portland route over 100x I love it it’s beautiful the engineers are fabulous the railway cops are the best in the nation. Antifa has been camped out for months in Olympia sabotaging tracks I highly doubt this was the engineers doing but instead something nefarious on the part of antifa and sound transit.
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One protester yelled, “This isn’t over. This is never over.” Where’s that suspicious cat?
http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article115608473.html
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I agree with you, AngelOne. Strange that CTH and BB don’t mention the antifa-fascists. TheGatewayPundit is the only site so far that connects the AF with this trainwreck.
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Did anyone watch Reporter Dan Springer at 48 minutes into the Lou Dobbs report tonight?
“Inaugural trip for this route, the brand new route, linking Seattle down to Portland and it was designed to be a high speed line that would save ABOUT 15 MINUTES off of the trip between these 2 cities”
My Jaw hit the floor…how much did they spend for this “15 minutes” !!!!! WTH?
And 15 minutes based on what other means of transportation? answer please mr. reporter… Good God.
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re. the 15 minutes.
I gave up on PNW ever having decent Public Transportation about, oh…..20 years ago.
It is very clear that, tho they scream “Progressive this, Progressive that” they have no intention of ever getting serious about Pub Trans.
The one train to Vancouver BC a day, left Vancouver BEFORE DINNER!!! Like who the heck goes to a major city for the day and doesn’t want to eat dinner before going home?
Needless to say, the train was always nearly empty.
So…..in an effort to draw more “crowds” to the train, did they add another run to make it more convenient , and therefore enticing? Noooo……
instead the idea was to put some techy stuff on the seats, as a draw, but keep it to one run daily!
PNW does not understand that the key to Pub. Trans. is convenience and price. Convenience means more than one round trip a day.
In short, I was Not.At.All. surprised that a 15 min. reduction in length of trip qualifies as “High Speed” to these charlatans.
Pathetic as it is, it’s not a surprise.
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$180 Million.
Which brings me back to what I wrote earlier in another post: High-powered people at the State level made a lot of money (see Bribes). A corrupt State government.
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This is not even a high speed train.
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The new Cascades route bypasses the main Tacoma depot & has new station dedicated to the Sounder (inter-city) train & Cascade train. It is a little bypass and not shared by the freight & Starlight Amtrak trains. It then joins the main route. The Cascades train stops many times to wait for other train traffic to clear. So 10-15 minutes is not much time savings on a 3 1/2 hour trip. If they laid new track and built or refurbished a spanking new station, and new train engines, and don’t forget about the mandatory % of the total that is required for the arts….
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They didn’t “spend” all that much of $181M. Most of it was likely put in the sock for themselves.
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This is almost exactly the spot on I-5 where I sat in my 69 Camaro on my way home to Olympia while I waited for the cucumbers to be cleared off the road after the truck overturned. The truck was headed for the Nalley pickling plant in Tacoma. When I learned Elvis had died. Will never forget that day. It was hot for Washington that day, even for August.
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Did your 69 Camaro have the one year only, small block high performance 302?
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Not a clue! But as I seem to remember, it had 302 on the front fenders on each side. There was something there anyway.
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My favorite year Camaro and my favorite Camaro engine.
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Loved. Bright yellow, Black strips and black top. Started nickel and diming us to death and had to go. Too poor to fix it properly.
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Oh dear. You need to meet the earnest, do gooding, attractive and photogenic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, former Congresscritter, same IQ as warm milk. He’s the man in charge!
Presidential passions beat in his bosom, but sadly he does not yet seem to recognize there is no place for his ilk (straight white male) in his political party. He needs to begin transitioning, or identifying as a person of color or something. He is a complete cuck.
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Levin thinks he’s driving the movement and president Trump is alonf
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Along for the ride.
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America used to have great passenger rail system. It survived the great depression and WWII. Then the government diligently went to work killing the golden goose with taxes and regulations.The RR labor unions also pounded nails in the coffin. In addition the federal government heavily subsidized highways and airports. When the goose finally died in the late 60’s the feds took over the remnants in the early 70’s creating a quasi “for profit” business that floats upon 1.3 billion taxpayer dollars a year.
Amtrak is a failure.
As for infrastructure… what happened to Obama’s $825 billion stimulus package that was for “shovel ready” infrastructure work?
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I pray I live long enough to see Obammy … “shovel ready” !!!
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https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/curve-where-amtrak-train-derailed-in-washington-has-speed-limit-of-30-mph/
Curve where Amtrak train derailed in Washington has speed limit of 30 mph
—-
And they took it at around 80?
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Hoping they please don’t tell us that the engineer was checking text messages as they came into those S-curves over the interstate barreling along at over 70mph. These days nothing would be surprising,
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If he’s a homosexual (i.e., a member of a “Protected Class”) like the jackass who derailed the train in Philadelphia last year, exactly NOTHING will happen to the engineer.
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This is Washington state. Legal recreational marijuana. Our vehicle accidents have increased by some ridiculous number and they are almost all “driving high” not drunk. My first thought was the engineer was probably high and enjoying the view.
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Source on accident stats?
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Eh, sorry, it was the ten o’clock local news during the last seven days or so but I’m not sure which one. We watch until one annoys us and then change the channel, and when they irritate change again.
I’m pretty sure the source of their story was the state patrol.
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On Seattle’s KING5 news tonight they ran a ribbon or banner on the bottom of the screen that said something to like: Three hours after the Amtrak derailment President Trump issued a statement touting his plan for improving infrastructure and offered support and condolences…eye roll…sounds like POTUS is a greedy and a slacker and doesn’t care…
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Wow. All that was on a ticker across the bottom of the screen?
That is amazingly arrogant, for the station to assume that all of their viewers would be okay with that…and not be offended.
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Yeah, the Fox News Affiliate spent valuable time talking about how Trump was politicizing the derailment to call for his infrastructure project when this had nothing to do with infrastructure.
In fact, evil Trump’s horrible deregulations may have been to blame. Blah blah something about train’s braking systems blah blah. I quit listening. They annoy me almost beyond belief.
It is every single night. They lie about Trump all the time. And the station does assume that all their viewers would be okay with that and not be offended because that is almost totally true in this vast blue wasteland. It is crazy here.
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Visited WA state one time. I loved everything I saw and did. It “was” an awesome state and probably still is in geography.
Legalize mary jane and forget to enforce “driving laws” wheather that would be drugs or alcohol or opoids, is a criminal act. I suppose the law knows that they are in a no win state so I don’t think I will be going back before I die.
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Washington state is beautiful. The coast is wild and rocky and gorgeous, the Olympic mountains are beautiful and so is the rain forest. The Cascade Mountains are just breathtaking and the northern pass through them is so gorgeous they call it the American Alps.
Central Washington has its own kind of beauty and I find it heartstoppingly lovely. Winthrop and Twisp, the lakes and rivers, Lake Chelan, The Okanogan, the towns of Wenatchee and Leavenworth, Sun Lakes and Dry Falls. All just so beautiful.
And eastern Washington is different, still, and unique. The ponderosa pines. Pend Oreille.
It was easier to enjoy it before the population tripled. When we were invaded by Mexico, refugees from California’s taxation, and then the third wave of invaders from Central America it all really did a number on the place.
Oh well. Sort of like California, I have my memories of what it used to be.
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Of course — did they also mentioned this was part of Obama’s “Shovel Ready” Failed Stimulus Bill. Of course not, EYE ROLL.
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4/16/09
President Obama delivered on a campaign promise Thursday when he announced a plan to lay the groundwork for a high-speed rail network that would serve 10 of the nation’s busiest transportation corridors.
“What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century,” he said. “A system that reduces travel times and increases mobility, a system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity, a system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.” “It focuses the administration effort and commitment to high-speed rail and to passenger rail in general,”
Obama outlined a strategy that focuses on 10 rail corridors that slice through regional population centers across the United States. Each state would compete for a chunk of the $8 billion in stimulus money that will be distributed to rail projects in the next two years. Another $1 billion will follow over the next five years. Funds will be awarded according to each states’ plan to develop and improve the rail corridors. <——-IMPROVE RAIL CORRIDORS
It's important to remember that when Obama and company say high-speed rail, they're not talking about replicating Japan's 180-mph bullet trains or France's 130-mph Train a Grande Vitesse. Right now, high-speed rail in the United States means nothing more than tracks capable of trains running at more than 90 mph. The president conceded our system lags those of other nations but made his ambitions clear.
"Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination," he said. "It's happening right now, it's been happening for decades. The problem is, it's been happening elsewhere, not here."
Many advocates would argue the country isn't moving fast enough. But it is an unprecedented level of funding for American rail, and it underscores the administration's commitment to rail. It won't put us in the same league as Europe, Japan or China, but it's a start.<—— GLOBALIST
——–
1/27/2010
Portland-Seattle Amtrak gets $598 million economic stimulus boost on Thursday
Washington will get $590 million, while Oregon gets $8 million to spend in the Portland area. The grant is the Northwest's slice of $8 billion the Obama administration will allocate to 13 corridors nationwide. Grants for high speed rail.
** Article details split of funds between Oregan and Washington – and that many projects were rejected "Most were studies of future work, while the stimulus program emphasized funding projects that could provide construction jobs in a matter of months." <—– Rewarded $$ for short term instead of long term (doing it right) projects
The Washington allocation may serve as a testament to the influence of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who chairs the transportation subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Murray pushed for high-speed rail money to be included in the stimulus bill and also lobbied LaHood directly for the Northwest corridor. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said Washington got more money because the state "has invested more … in years past."
"Just think about it, only a couple years ago we were fighting to keep Amtrak from being shut down," he said. <—–AMTRAK
The $590 million in Washington would go for construction of bypass tracks and rerouting existing rail service to increase train speeds and provide quicker trips. <—-BYPASS TRACKS AND REROUTING EXISTING SERVICE
8/11/2017 –
The Truth About Obama's High-Speed Rail Program
High-speed rail was supposed to be President Obama’s signature transportation project, but despite the administration spending nearly $11 billion since 2009 to develop faster passenger trains, the projects have gone mostly nowhere and the United States still lags far behind Europe and China. Obama administration — which in July asked Congress for nearly $10 billion more for high-speed initiatives.
Instead of putting the $11 billion directly into those projects, critics say, the administration made the mistake of parceling out the money to upgrade existing Amtrak service, which will allow trains to go no faster than 110 miles per hour.
“The Obama administration’s management of previously appropriated high-speed rail funding has been as clumsy as its superintending of the Affordable Care Act’s rollout,” said Frank N. Wilner, a former chief of staff at the Surface Transportation Board, a bipartisan body with oversight of the nation’s railroads.
When Mr. Obama first presented his vision for high-speed rail nearly four years ago, he described a future of sleek bullet trains hurtling passengers between far-flung American cities at more than 200 m.p.h.
But as Mr. Obama’s second term nears an end, some experts say the president’s words were a fantasy.
“The idea that we would have a high-speed system that 80 percent of Americans could access in that short period of time was unadulterated hype, and it didn’t take an expert to see through it,” said Kenneth Orski, the editor and publisher of an influential transportation newsletter who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations. “And scattering money all around the country rather than focusing it on areas ripe for high-speed rail didn’t help.”
Another problem is that Amtrak’s funding is tied to annual appropriations from Congress, leaving it without a long-term source of money. “I do what I can do,” said Joseph Boardman, Amtrak’s president. “But I don’t sit back and wait for $15 billion to rebuild the Northeast Corridor.”<—– Amtrak not a private company? Why are we funding Amtrak ??
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N/M – Forgot that Bush bailed Amtrak out in 08 — of course
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“The Obama administration’s management of previously appropriated high-speed rail funding has been as clumsy as its superintending of the Affordable Care Act’s rollout,” said Frank N. Wilner, a former chief of staff at the Surface Transportation Board, a bipartisan body with oversight of the nation’s railroads.”
“When Mr. Obama first presented his vision for high-speed rail nearly four years ago, he described a future of sleek bullet trains hurtling passengers between far-flung American cities at more than 200 m.p.h.”
This high speed railway, costing hundreds of million$, and crashing right at the beginning, is just another Obama debacle – just like Obamacare.
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Train is a typical leftist product.
Leftists put theories and hypotheses put into practice without proving them first.
Leftists come out of the false theoretical hypothetical reality of academia.
Leftist academicians spew out lots of hypotheses/theories, but none have been proved right/functional/correct. They fuel the students with a stew of Socialism, Communism, Black liberation theology, anarchy and ‘Revolution, Bro!’ Their students learn to protest, riot, loot, destroy and tear down, but they never learn to build or manage anything of long term, lasting value.
The smart ones go on to get law degrees and/or go into politics and work to grab $$$. The rest just do drugs and riot.
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My prayers go out to the families of those who died and my prayers are with the first responders. Otherwise, the politicians like Marrary, et al need to eat cake without champaign.
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Good post. It’s been awhile since I’ve said this, my dog has created more shovel ready jobs than Obama did.
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Well. Dump Amtrack. Let the market decide. If there’s demand for rail service, then there will be rail service built that answers that demand.
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The thing to remember is that Amtrack is a conglomeration of failed railroads. Adding failure to failure won’t fix anything.
Just like Scott McNealey said of the HP-Compaq merger, “I hear the sound of two garbage trucks colliding”… Here, it was about five roads, IIRC…
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Billions of dollars spent to shave only 15 minutes off the regular schedule?
Doesn’t make any sense to me.
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I agree and they couldn’t even buy a gallon of paint to cover graffiti.
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Terrorism: Amtrak Train Cascades Line Derailed Onto I-5 Freeway Outside Tacoma Washington, Al-Qaeda targeted Amtrak Cascades line in Washington for derailment in August 2017 Issue of Inspire Magazine with a homemade derailment tool. In the 94-page issue, the terrorist group’s writers outline different methods to derail trains, train routes to target, among other advice. One of the train routes to target was the “Amtrak Cascades” a passenger train. Al-Qaeda and/or ISIS could not have staged the crash site any better. If there ever was a location where terrorists would want to derail a train and get maximum media coverage, then this would be the spot. see http://www.billwarnerpi.com/2017/12/washington-state-amtrak-train-derailed.html
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Just like the sex scandal, now everything that happens is subject to being blamed on ISIS. Buyer beware.
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This September we moved to a rural neighborhood, about 5 miles from this tragic train wreck. Coming from Seattle / King County to Olympia / Thurston County, we’ve followed local politics closely. Olympia is the homebase of our idiot Governor, the very one who wouldn’t let Trump Force One land at Boeing Field during the campaign. The loons at Evergreen State College. And, the Antifa presence, history of demonstrations / riots.
Most recently, Antifa’s illegal tent city and criminal acts including vandalism of the rails near the Port of Olympia – an attempt to stop transport of fracking equipment. Their extreme hatred of all establishment and especially law enforcement is disgusting, dangerous – and frightening. Domestic terrorists for sure. The MSM may well bury / delete reports of the train engineer seeing something on the tracks just ahead of the crash. Does NTSB have competent and honest investigators? We need to keep this investigation from fading away!
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Soros! Soros! Soros! And don’t you forget it!
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Agree 100%. We are south of you in almost rural suburb of Portland. Do not let this fade away. It is a perfect snap shot of everything that is going on in the PNW. The looney liberal governors, the outrageous monetary expenditures for pet liberal projects that in the end the far left hates yet the liberal government types and their cronies made bank on. Then the far left morons protest and destroy. Next in this tale of the destruction of the PNW the mayors, city councils and governors will raise taxes and fees, probably for the children.
Such a sad tragedy. I don’t know what derailed this train but I hope the NTSB under Donald Trump is on the up and up. It easily could have been terrorism (foreign, domestic or both) or good old incompetence. We have an abundance of both.
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This man does a pretty comprehensive look at the facts, as known so far, of the Cascade train derailment (this is the same man that did wonderful video updates on the repairs of the Oroville Dam).. Here’s the link
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