Cascades 501 Wreck 18 December 17

Prayers to everyone involved in this. Very sad to see something positive for service be met with such a terrible debut.

As far as how long these sets are, if I remember correctly, the business class car(s) is/are up front. I believe there are 2-3 revenue cars upfront (business class and possibly quiet car(s)), followed by the bistro and 3-4 more coaches.

I haven't come across a picture of the Charger yet in any news story I have read online yet. Anyone know one that has a picture of it?

https://twitter.com/NinaHarrelsonTV/sta ... 6648711168" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CNN is already hammering Donald Trump for his tweet on the accident.

Dead pax in car that flung into woods. No deaths in cars on I-5.

Thanks,

Wow, I keep getting errors about the forum over capacity / to many connections.

I assume it has something to do with this wreck driving extra traffic to the forums.

77 people in the Hospital, thoughts and prayers are with them all for all with a swift and full recovery.

This brings up the 1951 PRR wreck in Woodbridge when a commuter run from Exchange Place derailed on a new alignment spanning the under construction NJ Turnpike.

CAUTION!

There are reports of conspiracy theories already drifting about in the twitterverse.

Please help us: Ensure your source is valid when you copy out a link.

Thank you!

MCL1981 wrote:Whether PTC existed or not... whether it would have helped or not... I can already hear the politicians gloating over it.

They are, Rep. Heck was on KOMO blasting everyone for not getting PTC installed. It's operational on Amtrak in the NE Corridor...but now the newsies are screaming that the tax bill will decrease taxes and prevent safety measures like PTC from being implemented. Sigh.

In regards to the 30 MPH restricted speed sign, maybe that was for freight? I know with LIRR that MAS is 60 for pax and 40 for freight...but 81 vs. 30 seems high.

If it hit an "obstruction", the investigators are going to find it. Time to sit patiently.

EuroStar wrote:Does anyone know if new routes are required to have PTC operational before being put in service? The legal side of PTC is not my forte, so maybe someone else knows. In other words did this route have operational PTC on its first day or not?

Here is an implicit answer to my own question: https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L18716. ODOT got money for PTC from USDOT this year, therefore at best PTC was only partially installed or under test, but given the timing of the grant it is unlikely that it was fully operational as of today.

The media outlets are almost unwatchable with their coverage. Hearing from some sources that the speed over the bridge was 30 mph, after a 79 mph straightaway, initial reports are train was doing 81 mph.

Operational question - does WADOT have enough Talgo sets to run full service tomorrow?

Here's where the accident occured, on Google Maps:

https://goo.gl/maps/2ZXjH5Jzuk72

That's a fairly gentle curve, but it's still a curve.

The upside down car, and the dangling car are on the right (north) side of that bridge.

The rest of the trainset is all off to the left of the bridge, in the woods, shoulder, or on the highway itself.

Where they landed is almost a direct, straight line, off the halfway point in the radius of the curve.

I must say I was never a fan of the bypass to begin with, it was going to save a whopping 10 minutes but take away some great scenery that it passes (including chambers bay) which I felt negated the 10 minutes extra. With that being said, what a horrible way to continue using the old route. I don't think it was going over the speed limit and if they are getting technical about 81 vs 79 that wouldn't have made a difference. Glad the engineer is alright from the sounds of the dispatch comms he sounded just fine.

andrewjw wrote:Operational question - does WADOT have enough Talgo sets to run full service tomorrow?

No, they need all seven, and are currently down two with a Superliner set running on the north end.