SEATTLE — Positive train control is now fully operational on the route of the Amtrak Cascades, the Washington state Department of Transportation has announced. However, there is still no date for returning Cascades trains to the Point Defiance bypass south of Tacoma, Wash.
Seattle TV station KIRO reports PTC equipment is now in place from Blaine, Wash., at the Canadian border, to Eugene, Ore. That includes the bypass, between Tacoma and Nisqually, Wash. Amtrak trains have remained off the bypass since the Dec. 18, 2017, derailment of the first Cascades train to use the bypass. Three people were killed when the train derailed while taking a curve at more than twice the posted speed limit, an accident PTC might have prevented.
WSDOT officials say they are waiting on a final accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board before planning the return of Amtrak trains to the bypass. An NTSB meeting on the accident is set for May [see “NTSB to meet May 21 on fatal ‘Amtrak Cascades’ derailment,” Trains News Wire, March 15.]
There is nothing arm-chair judgmental about lack of training for an engineer. It is the facts and will be called out in the final report from the NTSB. It was specifically highlighted in the initial findings through interviews.
As for why they don’t run trains now with PTC is that if something new is revealed in the NTSB report, they want the option to get it addressed before restarting the route.
It’s always easy for the know-it-all arm-chair mean judgmental people to have their usual opinion on “others”.
The engineer on the Amtrak train that derailed south of Tacoma this past month, killing three people and injuring dozens, said he didn’t see or didn’t recognize the signposts and signals indicating a drastic drop in the speed limit, a new report from federal investigators says.
It was the engineer’s second time operating a train in that direction on a newly opened stretch of track, known as the Point Defiance Bypass.
The engineer was properly trained, he just wasn’t paying attention. When will rail labor start taking responsibility for their own short-commings?
“Might have prevented”. The line was not properly marked for speed limits and the engineer not properly trained. What will be the next red herring that will be blamed for train accidents? If you don’t know the line, sit with the track diagram on your lap and run the train accordingly.
Waiting for the final report doesn’t sound like a decent reason to keep the trains off that needed bypass route. Methinks the bureaucrats are just gun shy and would rather do nothing now. What will be the reason for not using it later on, when they do have the report?
If the engineer was so new to the route he obviously should have been extra alert and paying strict attention to the signposts and signals so he wouldn’t miss any thing. Once he climbed on board and took that train out of the station it was his responsibility to operate it properly. Think of it this way: if you are an automobile driver who causes a major accident by not following signs or signals you don’t get a “pass” even if its your first trip on that highway.
His employer will face a civil trial(s) that will probably end badly unless out-of-court settlements with the plaintiffs occur. The fact that they let him take that train out after only one trip in that direction will have a major impact in any civil trial. But its only a mitigating factor for him if he faces a criminal trial.