Animation of how an Amtrak train derailed near DuPont

[Fordry]

The best animation I have seen so far, actually keeps the cars together long enough to show the forces at work to throw them all the directions they went. Every other one I have seen shows the cars coming apart and then flying off the tracks, which makes no sense.

[chuxtuff]

That back GE Genesis P-42 unit (unmanned and under remote control from the head end on this part of the trip) was the locomotive that was the power on this train and at the time was pushing the train. The Siemons power car is the head end unit but can't actually move the train. Then at the other end of the trip they don't physically turn that train around. Instead the crew jumps in that Genesis unit as that is now the head end leaving their posts unmanned back in the power car which is now under remote control from the head end unit for the return trip back to Seattle. That DC Genesis unit is either pushing or pulling but it's got plenty of horsepower (rated at about 4200 HP) for such a light weight train and has no trouble getting to and maintaining 79 mph in either direction too. Top speed is a reported 103 mph.
Where have you seen one of these before?? Coming north on I-5 north of Vancouver where the railroad tracks are right beside the freeway and the river's on the other side. That bright headlight of a train coming up behind you you see in your mirror that's gaining on you?? And you're running about 75 mph and this train is going to pass you and he's going faster than 79 mph. That head end locomotive that's cruising at about 85 mph in notch 7?? Yep that's one of these Genesis DC P-42's with over 4000 hp that just ran you down.

[BeardsleyMark]

Tragic. We are lucky that only 3 died. But what the heck happened? It sounds like as happened in Philadelphia in 2015, the train hit a restricted speed zone way over speed and ended up on the ground. This is what engineers train for, and in both cases they failed miserably. Thank God both survived but this just goes to show how penny wise and pound foolish the slow approach to instituting PTC has been. But what happened to the two engineers? Was it a loss of situational awareness due to outside influences or what?

[bleachycinnamon]

Ahhh just what I needed to see before my Amtrak ride tomorrow

[tjfreak]

It's just hard to accept that with other(same) train disasters & some not too long ago + what seems like a lot of rules regulations & enforcement..a  train hitting a curve at up to or more than 50 mph over the limit continues to happen

[charonsferryold]

Wow. People are making a conspiracy out of an obvious human error?

[Scodel]

You had brand a brand new route for this engineer he hadn’t been qualified on and on top of that several people in the engine cabin causing distractions. What did you think was going to happen?

[Railfanunionpacific]

Weird how the P42DC at the end was still on the track

[dacosta]

Apparently railroad, along with healthcare are two things the government shouldn't be involved in

[ordinaryJeff]

Yep, looks about right. I would have added the tractor/trailer combo that hit the passenger car, shoving it under the bridge.

[JawTooth]

Awesome video! I made a video of the wreck also.

[tacomarailproductions]

Update: PTC is now installed in this route, WSDOT has been doing some testing on this line. Not fully ready for full activation for this line.

[Ubebread]

Operator trying to drive like its a bullet train

[johnbrown]

Doesnt matter what country you are in if you run into a 30mph restricted curve at 80 something miles an hour the obvious outcome will be a derailment. Radius, superelevation and speed combination deciding factors.

[dagsterblaster]

Massive idiocy at work! They've been working and practicing this for about two years. That sharp curve has been there for decades. How the hell do they plow a train doing 80 mph straight through a sharp turn like that? Amtrak needs to go...

[almurphy]

I think that simulation was realistic. There is a WSDOT Interstate 5 camera pointing right at the bridge but it wasn't operating at the time...WHY??  Interesting to note that Amtrak just had a derailment on a bridge in Steilacoom on the Pt Defiance route just 5 months ago and the cause was speeding. Now this derailment on a bridge again in Dupont was on the new route through Lakewood and Tillicum and the cause was speeding?  Where is the lessons learned here??

[officergregorystevens]

This does not make sense. 70 mph right? How did the actual derailment happen? Answer me that, please. Maybe the FRA and or NTSB have info

[kennethmccann]

My point is it's should have a permanently post a solid yellow or flashing yellow signal light before any curve track(s) instead of solid or flashing green light which is help engineer instead of speed sign is posted next to the track is too fast by overlook or forgot to look at the speed sign with a small typed of sign and no matter how large sign is it. So, the signal light is seen a mile or ½ or ¼ mile away before doing so busy by looking on Locomotive gauge or computer screen or reading paper track reports or reading on schedules or looking at the time (clock) or chat and look on radio channel and many more. Now on those day without a second engineer is no helps during bring higher speed train. Between high speed to slow speed such as if higher than 10 MPH from previous posted 79 MPH then slow to 30 MPH is 40 MPH different with helps to alert at signal light huh to Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) or National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of don’t think for the safety to have signal light before the curves duh? several curving during at slow speed such as Donner Summit is not necessary to have yellow signal lights. Just required between high speed to slowest speed in ahead then bright yellow signal light is given them a warn in ahead of time before doing so busy.

[mrspeeddemon]

Don't need a video to demonstrate the obvious. Train was going to fast for the curve, enough said

[FirstnameLastname-tpzw]

Engineers got away with it but I heard they died of covid 19 years later.