
Amtrak train derails from bridge onto Interstate 5 near Olympia, WA - sdtransier
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/train-derails-from-bridge-onto-interstate-5-near-olympia/
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niftich
Accident site: just west of the Mounts Rd, Old Nisqually exit on southbound
I-5 [1] and streetview [2].

Some additional facts, without speculating about cause: the derailment
occurred in a left-hand curve -- running timetable southbound, map westbound
-- with the latter portion of the curve situated on a bridge above the
southbound lanes of I-5. The curve is at the end of a nearly 9-mile stretch of
(freshly upgraded) track with long straightaways and gentle curves. The
upgraded section of track ends just around 150 yards from this curve.

In the aerial footage of the scene, you can see the lead car and the carriages
following it flew off, tangent to the curve. The middle of the train bunched
up on the bridge, and the rear half of the train fell inward into the curve.

[1]
[https://www.google.com/maps/place/47%C2%B004'55.2%22N+122%C2...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/47%C2%B004'55.2%22N+122%C2%B040'32.7%22W/@47.082,-122.6779387,786m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d47.082!4d-122.67575)
[2]
[https://www.google.com/maps/@47.082065,-122.6750448,3a,60y,2...](https://www.google.com/maps/@47.082065,-122.6750448,3a,60y,285.05h,89.81t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3NdbsERlezWk-
yDx7gsBgQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

~~~
sounds
Thanks! Seattle Times now reports rumors of a collision with something on the
track. Since this train was the first with passenger service, that seems
plausible.

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NotSammyHagar
Wow, major disaster. This was the first day they were running a new route,
slightly higher speed Amtrak between Seattle to Portland. You just don't see
accidents like this very often, multiple train cars left the track, fell onto
the freeway - US I5, with multiple fatalities.

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smn1234
government owned, no responsibility. Shocking. Why can't inspiration be taken
from Europe with all its implementations for transit efficiencies and
learnings about doing intercity connections well.

