Unless I’m misunderstanding again, it was rerouting FROM an active freight route, and this is a new one.
You’re correct. They laid 14 miles of new track or replacement track.
Assuming that a regularly-used freight line would be in good condition is a laughable notion in this country. Congress has refused to spend any money to replace flood-damaged track in the norther tier, which means that there are very long stretches of temporary track where trains crawl along at 15 mph, shaking and rattling over every inch. The last time we took Amtrak to MSP, it took forever.
From your link:
Ironic.
That’s 80 of 83 either dead or injured. Holy shi…!
Some of the injured were in vehicles on the freeway.
King5 is still having live coverage. Earlier this morning, Alex Rozier was reporting live during the inaugural trip and was interviewing passengers. He and his cameraman got off the train in Tacoma. A few minutes later the train derailed. Now Alex is reporting coverage at the accident site.
Holy Crap! What a “Trump Administration”!
Lakewood mayor predicts deadly accidents from high-speed train service
KOMO TV news article, dated 04 December 2017, two weeks before today’s crash.
And Trump weighs in: “The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2017”
Too soon, Donny.
I’ve probably driven that stretch of freeway a hundred times; know it well. My thoughts are with the dead, injured, and their families.
Could I ask where you work, Taters? St. Joseph’s and Tacoma General aren’t too far away. Madigan is probably closer, but I don’t know if there are issues with taking civilians there.
You’ve been in office almost a year, Donald. If it’s so important to approve this quickly, why haven’t you even submitted it yet?
Looks like the trailer end of a semi-tractor-trailer truck.
The train cars do have “Cascades” painted on the sides…
Regular Amtrak goes as fast as 79 MPH (where conditions permit), that’s not considered a “high speed rail” speed.
And passenger trains sort of have to to through population centers because, you know, that’s where the population is.
Yeah, well, ANY transportation system can have a deadly accident (how many people killed in cars each year?). Look to some of Europe’s more spectacular train wrecks. While rail travel is largely safe if you have a high-speed passenger train derail or otherwise come to misfortune the casualty numbers can match those of a crashing airliner. Even so - how many people killed each year in cars? It’s just that those are onesies and twosies and so don’t make the headlines.
Even so - my condolences to those who lost loved ones or who will have long-term effects from this. I hope they find out what happened, take steps to prevent it occurring again (if reasonable), and get the mess cleaned up soon.
It’s never too soon for fucked up optics.
Even worse, these were new tracks.
I work at Madigan; we do take civilian casualties/traumas. There are protocols for stabilizing them and then transferring to another civilian institution when they can be moved.
I am not a healthcare provider.
What a fool. If it’s a simple matter of the engineer taking a curve too fast it doesn’t matter how good, bad, or indifferent the tracks are. I suppose if I drive 140 on the Interstate and wipe out on a curve and fly into a bridge pier, it means the infrastructure is crumbling.
The latest I’ve heard: Six fatalities. AP is reporting ‘at least six’.
Speed kills.
Seems plausible. From google maps. I would like to measure that radius, but that curve certainly looks pretty sharp for 80 mph.
Moderator Note
Let’s not derail the train derailment thread with political potshots in a breaking news story. It’s against the rules.
Thanks!
Will do…but please note that I did not search for that Trump Twitter quote. It was in the main story from the OP.