Three dead, 100 hurt in Amtrak train derailment in Washington state

[DUPONT, Washington] An Amtrak train derailed on Monday in Washington state during its inaugural run on a faster route from Seattle to Portland, Oregon, sending passenger cars tumbling from a bridge onto a major highway, killing three people and injuring 100 people.

"There are a lot of critical injuries and so we won't know until we get updates from the hospital," Washington State Police spokeswoman Brooke Bova told reporters as she gave the toll, when asked about whether there would be more victims.

Thirteen of the train's 14 cars jumped the tracks, she said.

Five vehicles and two trucks were involved in the accident; some motorists were injured but none died, authorities said.

Seventy-seven people were taken to local hospitals, according to the Tacoma-based CHI Franciscan Health healthcare network. Another 20 patients were treated at the Madigan Army Medical Centre in Tacoma, the centre said.

Several hours after the 7.40am (1540 GMT) crash in DuPont, Washington, train cars remained dangling from the overpass, with others strewn across Interstate 5.

Ms Bova said it was still possible that passengers remained inside some of the cars perched on the overpass, as rescuers have not been able to access them due to concerns about their stability.

The train carried 77 passengers and five crew, Ms Bova said.

Some people escaped by kicking out windows, passenger Chris Karnes told local news outlet KIRO 7.

"All of a sudden, we felt this rocking and creaking noise, and it felt like we were heading down a hill," Mr Karnes said. "The next thing we know, we're being slammed into the front of our seats, windows are breaking, we stop, and there's water gushing out of the train. People were screaming."

The derailment occurred on the first day Amtrak trains began using the new inland route between the Washington cities of Tacoma and Olympia, part of a project to cut travel time, according to an October news release from the state's transportation department.

The rerouting takes trains along I-5, enabling them to reach speeds of 127 kmh.

Monday's southbound Seattle-to-Portland train, whose scheduled departure time was 6am (1400 GMT), was the first to take the new route, which uses tracks owned by a commuter line.

It was not immediately clear whether the derailment was connected to the new route. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member told reporters it was too early to say what may have caused the crash, and that the NTSB was sending investigators to the scene.

A statement on Monday from the state transportation department said the track had undergone "weeks of inspection and testing" before Monday.

'CARS EVERYWHERE'

A train crew member told an emergency dispatcher that the train came around a corner before the bridge and then "we went on the ground," according to an audio recording posted by Broadcastify.com.

Asked whether everyone was OK, the crew member replied, "I am still figuring that out. We got cars everywhere and down onto the highway."

The dispatcher also requested the caller's location, and he responded, "As soon as I know exactly where all of my train is, I'll let you know."

Amtrak's co-chief executive, Richard Anderson, declined to speculate on the cause while speaking to reporters on Monday.

He confirmed that positive train control (PTC), a system that automatically slows trains if they are going too fast, was not installed on the tracks.

By law, PTC must be installed on all passenger rail systems by 2018, a deadline that has repeatedly been delayed after rail agencies said implementation was more complicated than anticipated.

Sound Transit commuter line, which owns the track, reported in September that it did not yet have PTC in operation.

US President Donald Trump said the crash illustrated the need for infrastructure improvements.

The rerouting project was budgeted at US$180.7 million and funded by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), according to the state transportation department. The work was done by Sound Transit and reviewed by the FRA, the department said on Monday.

I-5 is the West Coast's major north-south highway, running between the U.S-Mexican border in San Diego, California, and the border with Canada in Washington.

The mayor of a town along the new route warned early this month that high-speed trains were dangerously close to cars and pedestrians.

"Come back when there is that accident, and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements, or you can go back now and advocate for the money to do it, because this project was never needed and endangers our citizens," Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson told transportation officials, according to Seattle's KOMO News.

The derailment was Amtrak's second in Washington state this year.

On July 2, a southbound train with more than 250 people aboard derailed in the town of Steilacoom, just a few kilometres north of Monday's derailment. No serious injuries were reported.

In May 2015, an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight people and injuring more than 200. The NTSB concluded the driver became distracted by radio transmissions and lost track of where he was.

An Amtrak train traveling from New York in April 2016 hit a backhoe working on railroad tracks in Chester, Pennsylvania, killing two maintenance workers and injuring 41.

That crash prompted criticism from the NTSB about Amtrak's safety record. Amtrak said last month that it had made numerous reforms.

REUTERS, AFP