Hello all. Let me first start off by saying I am deeply saddened by the events that unfolded today as I woke up from a solid night sleep. I cannot imagine how my peers at Amtrak feel as the terrible derailment occurred with their friends and family on board. I am a railroad conductor that operates in the same geographical region as the Amtrak that derailed today. Here are my thoughts.
12/18/17 will be remembered as a peculiar day. It was Amtraks first official run on a new subdivision. For the record, I will be using a lot of railroad terminology, and do my best to explain them in the most lay way possible. A railroad subdivision is a section of mainline track governed by specific rules. These rules are found in what is called a timetable. A timetable is a fancy word for what most people would refer to as a rule book. Amtrak was operating on the Lakewood subdivision today.
The Lakewood subdivision was previously unused by Amtrak. They used the Seattle subdivision to make their trips to Portland, Oregon, and have for some time. However, my best guess is that the less used Lakewood subdivision become a better option as freight traffic has increased, leaving Amtrak delayed much more frequently on the Seattle subdivision.
From the news, you will hear a lot of speculation and information from people who do not know the ins and outs of railroading. It takes around 6 months to become a conductor, and 6 more months to be a certified locomotive engineer. There is a lot of training and information that goes into railroading, so I wanted to give my initial thoughts on the disaster that happened.
Sometime after 6 am this morning, the Amtrak 501 derailed traveling between 70-90 MPH. According to more experienced railroaders, the Amtrak derailed in a section of track that is only authorized for 30 MPH. Why did the engineer not slow down? I have two likely scenarious:
He fell asleep: I do not find this scenario as likely. Every sixty seconds locomotives have what is called an alerter. It requires you to press a button to prove to the train that you are still in control. If you do not show the train, by pressing the button, or giving the locomotive a command, it will stop the train after a short time. This safety overlay actually keeps people from falling asleep. It will start beeping very loudly if someone does not press the button.
He was not familiar with his territory: This is the more likely scenario. From what I have gathered, most of the Lakewood subdivision mainline is good for 79 MPH. However, with a sharp turn, there is a permanent speed limit where they derailed. Without being very familiar with the territory, the engineer might have missed the speed board (equivalent to a speed limit sign), or simply did not realize he was coming up to a 30 MPH speed restriction, and did not have enough time to stop before derailing.
The NTSB or Nation Transportation Safety Board will eventually figure out what went wrong. At that time there will finally be closure for everyone involved. For anyone getting their information from the news, take it with a grain of salt. Railroading is not the media's profession, and they are bound to speculate and get critical information wrong.
If you have any questions, or I missed something feel free to let me know. I'll try to be active in the comments.