Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Curve where Amtrak train derailed in Washington has speed limit of 30 mph
The Seattle Times ^ | December 18th, 2017 | By Mike Baker , David Gutman and Mike Lindblom

Posted on 12/18/2017 6:00:15 PM PST by Mariner

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 driving 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.

Russell Quimby, a consultant who was previously an investigator-in-charge for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said it appeared to him that the derailment was caused by speed. He said the track appeared relatively undisturbed, so it seemed unlikely that something knocked the train off the track, and he noted that it appeared the train drove in a straight line, missing the turn.

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: amtrak; rail; trainwreck
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160 ... 181-198 next last
To: William of Barsoom

Antifa has taken credit in a post last night claiming it was to stop the movement of fracking equipment - using the rebar and concrete method.


121 posted on 12/19/2017 3:31:03 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Governor Dinwiddie

6. Blind in one eye;
7. Getting it on with one of the crew;
8. Sleeping.
9. High on prescription drugs.
10. In a very heated argument.


122 posted on 12/19/2017 3:35:39 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: PIF; Publius

11. Told to speed by the PTB because the train was running 30 minutes late.

Last night I saw a report that this new route cost 9 figures, but only cut 15 minutes off the trip. 9 figures for 15 minutes. And that’s if it was on time. I wonder if the engineer was told to speed so critics wouldn’t raise a stink about the price tag for a project that saved only a few minutes at best.


123 posted on 12/19/2017 3:44:13 AM PST by mewzilla (Was Obama surveilling John Roberts? Might explain a lot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve

Ironic huh? Titanic hits an iceberg, AMTRAK hits something on the tracks.


124 posted on 12/19/2017 6:24:13 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: deport

Cool site, thank you!


125 posted on 12/19/2017 6:39:36 AM PST by AllAmericanGirl44
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: AllAmericanGirl44

Yes I thought it was interesting. I never knew such a thing existed.


126 posted on 12/19/2017 6:44:49 AM PST by deport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: Mariner
Antifa!

Antifa made the driver go 50 mph over the speed limit?
127 posted on 12/19/2017 8:08:18 AM PST by TexasGunLover ("Either you're with us or you're with the terrorists."-- President George W. Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexasGunLover

You didn’t see the “off sarcasm” tag?

/s


128 posted on 12/19/2017 8:15:21 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 127 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

So, was another f@ggot driving the train, like the one in Philly a few years ago that crashed?


129 posted on 12/19/2017 8:16:59 AM PST by fwdude (Why is it that the only positive things to come out of LGBT organizations are their AIDS tests?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

“</s>”


130 posted on 12/19/2017 8:21:41 AM PST by TexasGunLover ("Either you're with us or you're with the terrorists."-- President George W. Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 128 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

No dispatcher would ever tell an engineer to ignore a posted speed limit no matter how late a train was.


131 posted on 12/19/2017 8:43:34 AM PST by Publius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 123 | View Replies]

To: gandalftb

You give some excellent info on the tracks that you are familiar with here, but there are a few details that you are mistaken on.

First, Sound Transit “purchased” the track that makes up the “bypass” from the mainline and they spent over $800 million dollars improving them. Second the Amtrak train that crashed weighed considerably more than a million pounds. The passengers and their luggage weighed less than 18,000 pounds so the train in this case was essentially not any heavier loaded than unloaded.

The “bypass” route was suppose to save the 70 or so passengers who typically are found on this run 4 minutes as compared to the mainline. In test runs it was found that the actual time is slower than the mainline. How the government can spend nearly a billion dollars on track improvements to save around 70 people 4 minutes a few times a day is sort of incredible.

Supposedly there are a few other benefits to the nearly Billion dollars in taxpayer money spent, but no one at Sound Transit seems to be able to articulate them very well so I cannot tell you what they are.

It will most likely be found in the upcoming investigation, that the engineers were being pressured to travel the $800 million dollar bypass section on the route in a shorter time than it takes to takes to run the mainline. Unfortunately, running through the densely populated areas in Tacoma and Lakewood at 80 mph truly is not safe so the train really needed to be pushed when it got into the less populated Tillicum / Ft. Lewis / Dupont area. The pressured engineer was most likely keeping an eye on the clock and not the speed signs and screwed up.

I hope that the whole rotten bunch goes down and not just the engineer. People were put at risk to try and help upper management save face. The taxpayers, the City of Tacoma and the City of Lakewood were all lied to by Sound Transit about the benefits of this project to push it through. The mayor of Lakewood spoke out about the dangers, but was ignored.


132 posted on 12/19/2017 9:02:07 AM PST by fireman15
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: mylife; DoughtyOne

Sorry you two, your analysis is flawed. the locomotive made an almost straight trajectory when it hit the curve going 50 mph above the speed limit. It went down the hill and came to an abrupt stop. The cars behind it accordioned into the positions they came to rest in.

This is the area that I have lived and worked in my entire life. I had friends and associates who responded. The cause of the mishap was no mystery to a lot of the people who responded. They waited for the Feds to make the announcement because that is the job of the Feds. My associates jobs are to respond to the mess, but we still have observational skills and brains.

There does appear to be a conspiracy here and terrorists. The terrorists are the liars at Sound Transit who claimed that spending $800 million dollars improving this “bypass” would save 4 minutes on this section of the route. They spent $20 million dollars in advertising alone spreading misinformation. It will likely be found that they encouraged the engineers to push the pace because testing showed that the bypass was actually slower than the mainline when run at safe speeds. The only way they won’t be caught is if the Feds cover for them and blame everything on the engineer.


133 posted on 12/19/2017 9:17:26 AM PST by fireman15
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

That’s it! The engineer is a member of ANTIFA!


134 posted on 12/19/2017 9:24:16 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius

How does an experienced engineer make a mistake like that and will we ever know?


135 posted on 12/19/2017 9:25:14 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: deport

It’s amazing what is out there. I found a website that shows all ships’ locations and other details. We are constantly under satellite surveillance.


136 posted on 12/19/2017 9:28:13 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

From the animation they showed, it seemed the cars immediately piled up, causing some to veer left and some right.


137 posted on 12/19/2017 9:29:55 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: laplata

I heard his voice on the emergency call. Didn’t sound like an AA type.


138 posted on 12/19/2017 9:31:10 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ilovesarah2012

Hard to say. We still don’t have a definitive answer to the crash in Philadelphia years ago.


139 posted on 12/19/2017 9:37:27 AM PST by Publius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 135 | View Replies]

To: ilovesarah2012

“I heard his voice on the emergency call. Didn’t sound like an AA type”.

I heard that this morning on FOX. I was too hasty in saying that.

Merry Christmas.


140 posted on 12/19/2017 9:47:55 AM PST by laplata (Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160 ... 181-198 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson