Passenger Trains > Why Did Amtrak 501 Derail ?

Do we know why it Derailed ? How soon till they can move the Derailed trainset ? When will the line be reopen ? How much damage did the derailment cause ? Will they have to truck any of the derailed train set ? Can it fixed @ Seattle or will it have it to be towed via BNSF ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/17 09:09 by Viewliner2_Supporter.

There's a very sharp curve right at the northwest edge of the bridge that the train had just navigated. Plus it's downhill to the curve. Could easily be speed related

Just saw the news release. They're calling it a "bullet" train...

Lance/199

Until official information about the causes of the derailment is received, EVERYTHING else is speculation! Wait like everyone else until the official report is released.

See posting on a previous thread -- by Trainjukie.
Trainjunkie posting quotes apparent passenger (see info below) named Chris Karnes as saying "The train hit a truck, apparently. I am fine, but train is destroyed." There are photos as well.

EDIT: More below on Chris Karnes from Seattle Post-Intelligencer website story:

"Chris Karnes, chair of the Pierce Transit Community Transportation Advisory Group (CTAG) in Tacoma, was on board the train for the initial run and tweeted about the incident. Reports that the train hit another vehicle are unconfirmed."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/17 09:30 by hazegray.

I attempted to scale the radius of the curve at the bridge and found about 600 feet, which is about a 10 degree curve.
That would imply quite a lot less speed than the 80 +/- indicated above.
I don't know the radius exactly nor the tolerance for imbalance for the Talgo equipment and locomotives used.

There is a speed limit sign north of the curve posted at 30mph coming down from 70mph. Won't speculate but speed sure seems likely.

From the photos,one car is destroyed. Rest of train will be trucked to Milwaukee for rebuilding/scraping. A previous derailment caused a set to be trucked to the TALGO facility in Milwaukee. Now two sets out of service. Hope Amtrak can come up with a conventional set to replace. Maybe temporary, they can bus schedules between Portland and Eugene, allowing those equipment turns to protect Seattle-Portland.

Train 11 could be trapped for departure from Seattle. Not an expert on the area, but believe #11 could use the old route, not stopping at the new Tacoma Station. Hopefully someone with better knowledge can help us out here.

Maybe the two Talgo sets in storage, will be placed into service. That would take some time however to do.

DevalDragon Wrote:
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> Because it came off the track. Thanks for
> playing!
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Why Did Amtrak 501 Derail ?

Am watching live and some person who says they are an expert or something like that was yapping about PTC. The reporters are doing there normal thing. Also the speed was 80 at the time of derailment one over was told by an official as they were reporting it was going 18mph.
Looks like they were in the push mode due to the engine position don't think there was another on the front end.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> I attempted to scale the radius of the curve at
> the bridge and found about 600 feet, which is
> about a 10 degree curve.
> That would imply quite a lot less speed than the
> 80 +/- indicated above.
> I don't know the radius exactly nor the tolerance
> for imbalance for the Talgo equipment and
> locomotives used.

Its a ~750' radius 8+ degree curve.

Ignore the comments about the train hitting a truck for now. Part of the train did hit a container truck on the freeway, and I believe that is where that comment comes from. There are no crossings anywhere close to this spot.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

BAB Wrote:
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> Looks like they were in the push mode due to the
> engine position don't think there was another on
> the front end.

Then how was the train being controlled??? At least there had to be a control cab up front, NO????

4489 Wrote:
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> BAB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
>
> > Looks like they were in the push mode due to
> the
> > engine position don't think there was another
> on
> > the front end.
>
> Then how was the train being controlled??? At
> least there had to be a control cab up front,
> NO????

Based on the helicopter shot on CNN there is a Charger in the ditch.

That's not a ditch, that's the freeway.

Looking at the helicopter images, the lead locomotives and cars derailed off the outside of the curve to the right. Two of the cars wedged inside the bridge structure creating a blockage forcing following cars off the inside of the curve to the left.

Given the number of cars derailed this is not a 30 mph derailment.

donarb Wrote:
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> That's not a ditch, that's the freeway.

Correct.

---

Really easy for the NSTB and FRA on this one, just ask the guys here.

fbe Wrote:
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> Given the number of cars derailed this is not a 30
> mph derailment.

It would seem.

I think back to the wreck in Spain. Talgo's do not appear to behave well in wrecks. The short segments go all over the place.

Looks like excessive speed, according to Wall Street Journal at 2PM EST:

"Online train information showed that Train 501 was traveling around 81 miles an hour as it approached a sharp curve just before the overpass over Interstate 5. That curve appeared to be sharp enough to allow train speeds of only 30 to 40 miles an hour, this person said."

donarb Wrote:
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> That's not a ditch, that's the freeway.

Yes correct. My error.