Inaugural High-Speed Train Crashes on First Passenger Run
 

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

Amtrak train derails, dangles over interstate in Washington state

https://usat.ly/2AWIh40

This doesn’t bode well for Amtrak.

Prayers out for those involved.

I used to live just south of there and drove under that bridge at least twice a day for years.

IIRC, Amtrak has taken some serious hits over the last few years with crashes.

Not sure what the issue is...aging fleet, hiring issues, etc., but it would appear they need to get their act together.

Sounds like the news is going to get worse before it gets better - quite a few fatalities being reported. Thoughts and prayers for those impacted.



This is going to get some hard looks. The 2009 stimulus package from the Obama admin dumped well over 10 billion dollars into high-speed rail projects.

Obviously, some folks said "pfft, why" and the mayor of Lakewood said as much just two weeks ago.
A few "republican cities" cancelled the projects as unneeded and excessive.

In 2014 the NYT even ran stories about the Obama-legacy transportation project and the Washington Examiner ran a story earlier this year about it.
Detractors said it was an unneeded waste and they were written off as partisan hacks - now all is left is trying to figure out how to blame this on President Trump.

Never mind link didn’t work

Not a great one but there are actually a few.

Mounts Road and I-5 is crash site.

Detours will be out of Lacy around to Tacoma

It’s bad!

There are fatalities.

Looks like Northbound I-5 is open and still moving so I would expect WADOT to create a split lane from Mounts Road or in DuPont down to Nisqually (Exit 111) or just pull Jersey barriers north and south.

Eye witness just reported seeing it all happen. Train jumped the track at a sharp curve.

This will be human error and speed was a factor.

Prayers out to all involved. I have my doubts as to whether we as a nation are ready for high speed rail. Then again what is considered to be high speed in this country? Other countries are way ahead of us in this mode of transportation, Japan immediately comes to mind.

Twenty-first-century vehicles running on 19th-century rails. Brilliant!

Looks more like a Twentieth Century vehicle running on (brand new) 21st-Century rails.

They just completed this $181-million dollar project so the train can save 10-minutes over the old route and go ‘probably’ an extra 20-mph.

Gee, I wonder if the center of gravity changes from an empty train to one loaded with people?

A very costly endeavor - in lives and money - to save 10 minutes!

Sad use of funds!

Rest In Peace to those that were lost!

I know terrorism is possible, but is it probable in this situation. There are initial and new reports that the train hit a truck/vehicle. I know that maintenance crews operate on rail lines in pickups, but it seems like a strange place for a truck to be on the line. The location (intersection with I-5) and timing (inaugural run of this line) could lend to a terrorist attack. Then again, the infrastructure could be so shitty that it couldn’t handle the train.

If Obama had a rail line it would work like this.