Object on tracks may be cause of deadly Amtrak derailment

NYPost.com ^ | 12-18-2017 | Bruce Golding and Bob Fredericks

[servo1969]

Monday’s deadly Amtrak train derailment appears to have been caused by an object on the railway, according to a government official briefed on the crash.

A preliminary investigation suggests maintenance problems are unlikely to blame because the incident took place on brand-new tracks, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

At least six people were killed and the death toll is expected to rise, the official said.

[21twelve]

I caught something on the radio where the guy said something like “When asked if this train had a _________ device on it, the Amtrak spokesman said that it had just recently been installed. However, it was not turned on at the time.”

[Publius]

...since we already know why the accident occurred...

We do? Please enlighten me.

Half the people on this site think it's sabotage from Antifa or ISIS.

Considering the placement of the curve near the bridge, my own suspicion is that the engineer ignored the posted speed limit at the last block signal and started to blow around the curve at too high a speed. Then he panicked, dropped the air and applied his emergency brakes too late.

[Citizen Soldier]

I used to live on Fox Island and I agreed Lacey is a nice area. We almost bought a home there. Overcast skies got to me and we s9ld and moved to Tucson. Love it here. Cheers.

[damper99]

That’s a stiff curve for rail.

[Citizen Soldier]

Being located between Seattle and Portland I expect a lot of Antife out there. Remember how they riot in downtown Seattle?

[Publius]

That’s a stiff curve for rail.

Which is why it posted at a speed far, far below the FRA maximum passenger train speed of 79 mph.

[hoagy62]

Positive Train Control. It’s something they’ve been working on for years.

An engineer described it as an “angel on our shoulder”. It’s supposed to be able to slow the train in case the engineer is going too fast or if the controls haven’t been touched in a certain period of time.

[damper99]

I would guess excessive speed for the curve is the fault. I wonder what speed is posted for it.

[Publius]

I had heard something to the effect that it was posted for 30 mph, but I could be off. We’ll know by tomorrow what went wrong.

[Cold Heart]

Where to start, hmm. Portland Oregon, most atheist city in US, 2n & third tied between Seattle and San Frecko. Portland top W. Coast in human trafficking. I-5 is a drug and human trafficking corridor between Mexico, Mexafornia, Oregon, Washington, Canada. Every city along I-5 is subject to those benefits.

[damper99]

Picture looks pretty tight for 30mph, but certainly not higher. I suspect speed caused it.

[txhurl]

A reporter on Friday’s test run said they made the curve at 79mph just fine. Maybe so, but just cuz you can do something doesn’t mean you should. And it’s fun hanging this on Antifa even if we have no idea yet exactly the cause ;)

[NoCmpromiz]

First, your photo.

Now some thoughts.

At first glance it does appear to be a tight radius curve. What is missing is the necessary information to determine what it 'really' looks like. If there is any amount of telephoto lens applied to this photo that would produce a foreshortening affect that would skew the visual rendering of the photo making things appear 'squashed together' or in this example produce the appearance of a much tighter curve than is reality.

Keep in mind that information indicates that this section of track is rated for 79 mph. Note also there is no indication of rail malfunction - the rail seems to be intact and if speed or track failure were involved one would think we would see some rolled rail right here. You will of course run into a segment of normally intelligent people who will scream about the preliminary information that the train was going 81. Maybe it was, maybe not. Was this information from the recorder, from the speedometer, is there a variance between actual and indicated speed, and just how much realistic difference do you believe 2 mph will make? The Amtrak wreck in Philly was on a 50 mph curve that the engineer took at 110. THAT would make a big difference.

I am not there and the news photos do not give enough information to determine much more than the train derailed to the outside of the curve because presstitutes, much like web commenters know little or nothing about trains. Considering that we may never get the full story and useless uninformed surmizations are counter productive I will offer my comments here. Because I can.. ;-)

With all the above said, I am leaning toward the camp of those who claim sabotage. But I'll wait for the report rather than die on that hill. Now if some allah snackbar or tree hugging antifa types come forward and claim responsibility..

[semimojo]

I could be wrong but the Antifa admitted to the sabotage but tried to temper their crime with a defense that they had called the railway workers office to alert them...

That article was from April and it wasn't these tracks.

[Citizen Soldier]

I was talking about Lacey, not Portland. I abhor Portland only went there once. It’s an awful place.

[fireman15]

Now we know what happens when a government employee Amtrak engineer forgets to slow his train from 80 mph to go through a curve designed to be taken at 30 mph...

[NoCmpromiz]

Source of your information that this was a 30 mph curve?

[al_c]

Separate incident altogether.

[Cold Heart]

I watched the news from the start for about two hours and picked up some tidbits.

That 81 mph was taken off an online service that monitors the train in real time. It was for a straight stretch just prior to the curve but showed no speeds after.

There was talk of an object on the track that may have been the culprit. There were 12-15 men in yellow coats gathered around a spot on the track looking down when they mentioned this.

The real fun one when I watched Portland FOX affiliate CH 12. They showed the semi truck under the crossover that had been hit by the falling train. The moronic news readers were debating whether it was the truck that may have caused the accident.

Ch 12 by the way gave out some fake Trump political election news and shortly after had a self ad saying they never gave out fake news.

[TXnMA]

By Mike Baker
and
David Gutman
Seattle Times staff reporters

The Amtrak train that derailed Monday morning on its inaugural trip through a faster railway route was supposed to slow dramatically before entering the curve where the crash occurred.

The speed limit at the curve where the train crosses Interstate 5 is 30 miles per hour, said state transportation department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe, while the speed limit on most of the track is 79 mph. She said speed-limit signs are posted two miles before the lowered speed zone and then just before the zone.

“Engineers are trained to slow trains according to posted speeds,” she said.

Daniel Konzelman, who was traveling on I-5 south parallel to the train, said he was traveling at 60 mph or more and watched the train pass his vehicle about a half-mile before the crash. A website that monitors locations and speeds of Amtrak trains, transitdocs.com, reported that the train was going about 81 mph shortly before the derailment, The Associated Press reported.