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Came across this article this morning. Amtrak 501, a relatively new Amtrak service train, managed to derail itself onto I-5 out on the West Coast, blocking all southbound lanes. The article below reports injuries and damage, hopefully no one got killed. The pictures are just stunning...

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca ... 12794.html

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Looks like this might be yet another overspeed accident. We’ll see but thoughts to all involved.

Attached is an image of the area...Train was moving upper right to lower left

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One of the new Chargers was leading, now standing upright far beyond the bridge on I5, I can see that giant open-air cooking section. P42 was trailing. Tango set in use

Lots of reporters and Railfans on board for this first run but most of the reporters got off at the previous stop.

Fatalities and injuries confirmed

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Have to wonder about that lightweight Talgo equipment as well, those things are around 25 years old IIRC. I remember driving to Fostoria to photograph them at the station as a teen, when they came through on a demo run. It could be that the tilting function malfunctioned in the curve, and bang over the side they go.

Reporting 6 dead and 77 injured now.

DaveO wrote:Forgot about the Talgo's. Some super-elevation on the curve with those and 79 mph I think might be possible there.

Part of the train derailed on the inside of the curve. One passenger thought they hit a truck.
The NTSB will have to make some sense of it all.

It appears they did, in fact, hit a truck. But not until after they were on the ground- there's a semi underneath the overpass with a damaged hood and part of a Talgo sitting on it. Unless something has changed, it's amazing that nobody on the freeway was killed.

J T wrote:

Screen Shot 2017-12-18 at 1.10.43 PM.jpg

Where's that at? Might be an advance sign though

9xs wrote:

J T wrote:

Screen Shot 2017-12-18 at 1.10.43 PM.jpg

Where's that at? Might be an advance sign though

That's a BNSF-style sign and they tilt the advance warning signs, and the actual begin restriction signs are perpendicular as shown here.

If that is leading into the curve, it just adds more to the speculation of overspeed. Saw another photo which looks like they look out a signal on their way, and the track looked to be in perfect condition, reducing the possibility of sabotage being a factor. This would also discount the possibility of a vehicle on the track, as there is no evidence of that, either.

Somebody needs to get a helicopter over that site. Once the overall layout it known it'll put the pieces into place real quickly.

As far as PTC goes, with this being a new line just seeing passenger trains and having just received upgrades to T&S I would have thought they might have PTC online and running, but I guess now.

I'll be honest, and this will be a surprise to many of you, but the trio of these overspeed wrecks in three years has converted me to a believer in PTC as a worthy safety appliance - at least on passenger-handling roads.

Video screenshot from the WSJ showing the condition of the Charger. Can't quite tell if it rolled or not, but heavy (and I'd guess terminal) damage. It is upright, however, which I'd consider quite amazing. Promises to be interesting cab-camera footage. Does anybody know if these units had inward-facing cameras as well?

Saturnalia wrote:Video screenshot from the WSJ showing the condition of the Charger. Can't quite tell if it rolled or not, but heavy (and I'd guess terminal) damage. It is upright, however, which I'd consider quite amazing. Promises to be interesting cab-camera footage. Does anybody know if these units had inward-facing cameras as well?

1402.jpg

I get that the damage to the IDTX units isn't nearly as bad as this, but...how many of the new charger locomotives are out of service now due to this type of damage as a percentage of delivered units?


Also, Saturnalia, one of the Seattle news stations (KOMO) was broadcasting helicopter views of the scene earlier, if you're looking for some aerial shots.

9xs wrote:

J T wrote:

Screen Shot 2017-12-18 at 1.10.43 PM.jpg

Where's that at? Might be an advance sign though

They were zooming in on that sign showing it as the speed limit sign for the the curve.

An engineer being interviewed said the "T" was for "Talgo trains" and the "P" for "Passenger trains."

Link with some overhead shots: https://imgur.com/a/mCttO
Word is saying they were going 81mph. Train was headed southwest then curved left over southbound I-5.
https://imgur.com/aHcVQab

~Z~ wrote:Link with some overhead shots: https://imgur.com/a/mCttO

Very interesting to see how the Talgos dealt with a major derailment. I'm sure there will be some great engineering work done by the folks at the NTSB, FRA and Talgo over how these held up (or didn't) in the wreck. I'm glad to see that the cars did not collapse, and did not accordion. I'll be interested to read the analysis of how their interiors helped, or didn't. Being thrown around in these wrecks is what does a lot of the damage, beyond collapses, which didn't appear to happen in this case.

Have you ever seen a locomotive roof open up like that other than after a violent collision with something like a drawbridge counterweight?

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That tagger sure is getting a lot of air time today.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/18/us/amtrak ... =permalink

Looks like the death toll may rise. The local officials say a couple of the cars are hanging and unsafe to enter, but there are no more people alive in them. Interesting that the lead loco remained upright and stopped within a couple hundred feet from 81 mph, and the trailing loco stopped before the overpass.