[Breaking News] At Least 3 Killed and 50 Hurt in Amtrak Derailment in Remote Montana

[kenobi_65]

@Fluffy_PickleSniffer

Didn’t we just have a member looking to travel by Amtrak? I seem to recall an Amtrak advise thread somewhere, can’t remember where just now. I hope they weren’t on that train.

Yes, that thread is here. I don’t believe that @WildaBeast was on the affected train; they were looking to take the train at Christmas.

Advice on traveling long distance by Amtrak

I’ve always wanted to take a long distance trip by train, and I’m seriously considering taking the train when I go visit my parents in Wisconsin for Christmas. If I go to Amtrak’s website and search for trains from Sacramento to La Crosse, WI, it wants to route me north on the Coast Starlight to Portland, and connect to the Empire Builder. However, the connection time in Portland is 1 hour 13 minutes. Given Amtrak’s reputation for being delayed, how likely do you think I’d actually make that …

I’m not sure if this is blocked by a paywall, but this article on Trains.com (to which I subscribe) has a some details from the initial story:

The Empire Builder operates between Chicago and Seattle and Portland, Ore. The trains operates as one east of Spokane, Wash., but west of there splits into two sections, trains 7 and 8 to Seattle and trains 27 and 28 to Portland. Typically, the Portland cars operate at the rear of the combined train. It is equipped with bilevel Superliner equipment.

Analysis of the derailment photos appears to show that only the cars at the rear of the train, the four cars of the Portland section including a Sightseer Lounge, two coaches, and sleeper, fell on their sides.

Amtrak confirms three fatalities in Montana derailment - Trains