Amtrak derailment victim identified; train was speeding 50 mph over limit
DUPONT, Wash. -- The Amtrak train that plunged off an overpass south of Seattle, killing at least three people, was hurtling 50 mph over the speed limit when it jumped the track, federal investigators say.
PHOTOS: Amtrak train derails off bridge south of Tacoma, Washington
Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said late Monday that the data recorder in the rear locomotive showed the train was going 80 mph in a 30 mph zone when it derailed along a curve, spilling some of its cars onto an interstate highway below.
Dinh-Zarr said it is not yet known what caused the train to run off the rails and too early to say why it was going so fast. She said investigators will talk to the engineer and other crew members. In previous wrecks, investigators looked at whether the engineer was distracted or disabled.
The engineer, whose name was not released, was bleeding from the head after the wreck, and both eyes were swollen shut, according to dispatch audio.
RAW VIDEO: Amtrak trail derails over I-5 in Washington
One of the dead was identified as Zack Willhoite, a customer service employee at a local transit agency and a railroad buff excited to be on the first passenger run of the new route. He was a member of All Aboard Washington, an organization of rail advocates.
The group's executive director, Lloyd Flem, said it was a given Willhoite would be on the trip. "It's pretty devastating. We're having a tough time," Flem said.
Rachel Topper said Tuesday that she has been notified of the death of her uncle Jim Hamre in Monday's crash. Topper said the family has no further comment.
In a Facebook post, she said they were heartbroken and that Hamre will be missed by many.
Lloyd Flem, executive director of rail advocacy organization All Aboard Washington, says Hamre retired a few years ago as a civil engineer at the Washington Transportation Department. He says Hamre lived with his mother in Puyallup.
The train, with 85 passengers and crew members, was making the inaugural run along a fast new bypass route that was created by refurbishing freight tracks alongside Interstate 5. The 15-mile, $180.7 million project was aimed at speeding up service by bypassing a route with a number of curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.
Positive train control - technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train - wasn't in use on this stretch of track, according to Amtrak President Richard Anderson.
Regulators have pressing railroads for years to install such technology, but the deadline has been extended repeatedly at the industry's request and is now the end of 2018.
The 7:34 a.m. accident left mangled train cars up on top of each other, with one hanging precariously over the freeway. The screech and clang of metal were followed by silence, then screams, as the injured cried out to rescuers and motorists pulled over and rushed to help.
More than 70 people were injured, 10 of them seriously.
Train passenger Emma Shafer found herself at a 45-degree angle, staring at the seats in front of her that had come loose and swung around.
"It felt oddly silent after the actual crashing," she said. "Then there was people screaming because their leg was messed up. ... I don't know if I actually heard the sirens, but they were there. A guy was like, 'Hey, I'm Robert. We'll get you out of here.'"
In 2015, an Amtrak train traveling at twice the 50 mph speed limit ran off the rails along a sharp curve in Philadelphia, killing eight people. Investigators concluded the engineer was distracted by reports over the radio of another train getting hit by a rock.
In September, a judge threw out charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment against the engineer, saying the wreck did not appear to rise to a crime. Prosecutors are trying to get the case reinstated.
In the Washington state crash, speed signs were posted 2 miles (3 kilometers) before the speed zone changed, according to Kimberly Reason of Sound Transit, the Seattle-area transit agency that owns the tracks.
Eric Corp, a councilman for the small town of DuPont near the derailment site, said he rode the train with about 30 or so dignitaries and others on a special trip Friday before the service opened to the public Monday.
"Once we were coming up on that curve, the train slowed down considerably," he said.
After the Philadelphia wreck, Amtrak agreed to pay $265 million to settle claims filed by victims and their families. It has also installed positive train control on all of its track between Boston and Washington.
The NTSB's Dinh-Zarr said it is too soon to say whether positive train control would have prevented Monday's tragedy.
Could positive train control have prevented this deadly derailment?
Metra, Amtrak and freight companies have been in the process of installing positive train control, a technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train in case of human error, on Chicago's railroads and trains for the past few years.
"If the engineer is fatigued or distracted or incapacitated technology can actually detect if there is going to be a collisions between two trains or if a train is going too fast for conditions," said Debbie Hersman, the former Chairman of the NTSB.
After years of deadline extensions at the industry's request, Congress has required PTC to be installed by end of 2018. However, railroad companies can apply for a 2 year extension, which Metra plans to do.
"It's not like flipping a switch and everything is PTC, you have to bring it in, blend it on one piece at a time," said Metra Chief Engineering Officer Bruce Marcheschi.
Besides training personnel, the PTC hardware must be installed on the trains and rails. Installation in Chicago is the most complicated in the country because it has the most railroads. There are 13 railroads being used by Metra, Amtrak and freight companies, Marcheschi said.
"It is a lot to install, a lot to test, a lot to coordinate to make sure everyone is doing their own job and to get the same common goal," said Marcheschi.
Metra will always expect its engineers to operate its trains using the signal system, but if for some reason something goes wrong or they don't abide by the signals, PTC can step in and take control.
