Derailed Amtrak train plunges off bridge onto I-5 lanes south of Tacoma

KOMONews.com ^ | Monday, December 18th 2017 | by KOMO Staff

[SE Mom]

Uh oh..

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

First day? That’s ominous. I’d say closer to criminal than sloppy.

[Terry Mross]

Expert says emergency breaking would cause a push-pull effect. That’s apparently how a car ended up upside down on the freeway.

[Terry Mross]

I wonder how quickly that truck stopped.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

KIRO-7: Several cars were hit by the train, but no deaths related to motorists.

[Radix]

Dang, the first Amtrack train ever to make a profit on the concessions too.

[NautiNurse]

Enlarged photos below indicate another Amtrak car laying on I-5 behind the upside down Amtrak car.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Well, it looks like the Lakewood leg will be on hold for a while.

[Professional]

That is very old. That labrat knats has spray painted the entire state. The bigger problem are the hobos and drug addicts living on the rail properties.

[llevrok]

The breathless local news (who do not know their local area very well) are speculating that a truck was on the tracks. Knowing that overpass, it is not hard to imagine. Easy access if it was indeed a non train vehicle.

[DoughtyOne]

People in those cars become projectiles as the cars go from speed to stop in short order.

[Enchante]

listening to a TV report

all southbound lanes of I-5 blocked

75 passengers were on train

80 mph

some fatalities

happened at 7:38 am (Pacific)

this was the FIRST train to carry passengers on the higher speed route (80 mph)

[Terry Mross]

From that photo there’s at least one car behind the upside down car and maybe more.

[Yaelle]

Good Lrd. Prayers up.

[Not A Snowbird]

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department says the train was headed southbound. Casualties and injuries reported, but how many was not immediately known. The department says several cars on I-5 were struck by the derailed Amtrak train cars. Multiple motorists were injured, but none were killed.

[Paladin2]

It’s also near a couple of curves.

I’m not sure whether the train was going engine first or in pusher mode.

47.0822 122.6756

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Rumor has it Chick-Fil-a was going to have the fried chicken concession but they all got called to Atlanta and couldn’t make the maiden voyage. Small miracles. /s

[Paladin2]

Ebonics?

[Terry Mross]

By looking at the Google map there’s no way a truck could have been on the tracks without intentionally driving down the track.

[Not A Snowbird]

Det. Ed Troyer saying cars are in the woods, so what we’re seeing on the TV is only a small portion of the carnage.