2017 Washington train derailment
On December 18, 2017, Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501 derailed near DuPont, Washington, United States. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) final report said regional transit authority Sound Transit failed to take steps to mitigate a curve at the accident location, and inadequately trained the train engineer. The train was making the inaugural run of the Point Defiance Bypass, a new passenger rail route south of Tacoma, Washington, operated by Amtrak in partnership with state and local authorities in Oregon and Washington, on right-of-way owned and operated by Sound Transit. The bypass was intended to reduce congestion and separate passenger and freight traffic, and was designed for faster speeds and shorter travel times, saving ten minutes from Seattle to Portland compared with the previous route used by Cascades.
| 2017 DuPont train derailment | |
|---|---|
Aerial view of the wreckage after the derailment. | |
| Details | |
| Date | December 18, 2017 07:33 a.m. local time (15:33 UTC) |
| Location | Near DuPont, Washington, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 47.0820°N 122.6757°W |
| Country | United States |
| Line | Point Defiance Bypass |
| Operator | Amtrak |
| Incident type | Derailment caused by overspeed |
| Cause | Technological error and poor training |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Vehicles | 8 |
| Passengers | 77 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Deaths | 3 |
| Injured | 65 (57 on train, 8 in road vehicles) |
The lead locomotive and all twelve cars derailed at 07:33 a.m. local time while approaching a bridge over Interstate 5 (I-5). The trailing locomotive remained on the rails. A number of automobiles on southbound I-5 were crushed, and three people on board the train died. The train derailed a short distance from where the new route merged with the previous route.
Preliminary information from the data recorder showed that, when the incident happened, the train was traveling at 78 mph (126 km/h), nearly 50 mph (80 km/h) over the speed limit.