http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/18/us/amtrak-derailment-washington/index.html
First day of new high speed service from Seattle to Portland. Fatalities are certain.
Horrible accident and a week before Christmas and smack in the midst of Hanukkah.
I’ve been following it. Just awful, devastating. 
My kids take that route between Seattle & Portland all the time (dad lives in Portland). Thankfully not on the train today, although they are booked for next week. How awful.
It was not a new high speed train as some news report . It was a newly rerouted route…
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/train-derails-from-bridge-onto-interstate-5-near-olympia/
“Monday morning was the first time Amtrak trains used the new Point Defiance Bypass route. It was the culmination of a $181 million project that began in 2010. A new Amtrak station also opened in Tacoma. The change would reduce the length of the trip by 10 minutes and separate Amtrak trains from freight lines that frequently cause delays on the Point Defiance route.”
So maybe they will default to the old route in days ahead, although they will have one less train to run. So awful.
Awful.
Really, really awful.
@BunsenBurner Why have they been reporting that the 6 a.m. train was the inauguaral run? There was a report from a local NBC reporter who had been on the train and who had gotten off a few minutes prior to the derailment, who said that in addition to commuters, there were many train enthusiasts aboard and that all kinds of souvenirs had been distributed to passengers.
It looks terrible. So many cars from the train down onto the highway on both sides of that overpass and they hit several cars and trucks when they fell. Amazing that there were no fatalities in the vehicles below, just on the train.
It is a new route of tracks. Supposed to cut some time off the route between Seattle & Portland.
OMG how awful.
So glad your kids are OK @intparent.
It was the inaugural run for the new route. Previously, trains were sharing the route with freight trains that was scenic but slow. The 10 min time quoted meant if there were no stops due to letting the slow freight trains go by. It could have been 30-40 min savings at times, as people who rode the train reported.
Yes, that route routinely has run 30+ minutes late. I know to take a book when I go meet it. It leaves on time – then loses time along the route.
It seems like there is a turn in the tracks right around that point. Maybe speed was a factor. The bridge is also old.
As DW and I were driving that stretch of I-5 yesterday afternoon we were discussing how automobile traffic between Olympia and Everett is horrible and that expanded Amtrak service is overdue. I’d like to see Acela type service from Portland to Vancouver, B.C.
Then to awake to this news…
Shocking and horrible.
From the Seattle Times:
"However, an official who was briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that preliminary signs indicate the Amtrak train may have struck something on the track before going off the rails.
The official said because the tracks were new it was unlikely to be a maintenance issue."
At least six fatalities (all on the train) per the Seattle Times.
Awful. We’re still struggling with 19th century technology. Oh America, what happened to your idealism, boldness and “Yankee know how”?
"Pierce County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ed Troyer said 13 of 14 train cars derailed in the crash, and “there are a couple of [train] cars that are not safe enough to search.”
“We know that there’s nobody alive in them at this point, but there are some other fatals that we are probably going to find,” Troyer said. “We just don’t know until they can shore up those train cars and get in there and search them.”
I’m skeptical of the “object on the tracks” theory at this point.
They spoke with a retired train engineer on KOMO 1000, the Seattle am news radio station. He said it happened right at a sharp 30 mph bend in the tracks. Passengers and witnesses from I-5 estimate train speed as 70-80 mph at the time the engine derailed. All signs point toward excessive speed and the train driver ignoring the speed warnings.
@intparent We parked a few blocks away and met our daughter down the block from the station at a boutique grocery called Cone and Steiner. They have a small bar and a couple of tables with beer and cider on tap, plus sidewalk tables in the summer.