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Derailment shows vulnerability of I-5

Logging trucks remain stopped just before where cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 below alongside smashed vehicles as some train cars remain on the tracks above Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off the overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing some people, authorities said. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com(509) 879-7461

DUPONT, Washington – The fatal derailment of a new train traveling between Seattle and Portland underscores the vulnerable nature of the nation’s western-most interstate lifeline for commerce and commuters.

Trucks carrying freight from ports and businesses in Seattle and Tacoma, as well as other motorists heading south on the interstate that connects Canada to Mexico, were stopped for hours before being rerouted through smaller, slower roads.

Amtrak’s Cascade 501 was making its first trip along newly upgraded tracks south of Tacoma when it derailed as it crossed a rail overpass above Interstate 5.

Of the 12 cars and two locomotives, 13 were tossed off the tracks, killing three of the 77 passengers and seven crew members, and injuring more than 100 including casualties from the freeway below. Dozens were taken to hospitals in Tacoma and Olympia.

The cars fell onto a stretch of interstate that has become a choke point between Tacoma and Olympia asJoint Base Lewis McChord has grown in recent decades. Some military personnel live off-base in nearby Lakewood, DuPont and Lacey. Many state employees also commute from Tacoma or points north to Olympia.

That section of I-5, with the Puget Sound and a wildlife refuge to the west and a reservation and growing suburbs to the east, is only three lanes in each direction, although a widening project is underway north of the rail overpass.

Cascade 501 left Seattle at 6 a.m., part of new expanded high-speed service between Seattle and Portland that transportation officials hope will eventually take some of those commuters off the interstate. It derailed at 7:33 a.m.

A few hours after the accident, President Donald Trump in a post on Twitter said it shows “more than ever” why an infrastructure plan he will send Congress must be approved quickly. “Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble!” he tweeted.

But Cascade 501 was on some of the newest rail lines in the state, which were recently upgraded with nearly $181 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Washington Department of Transportation, which received the money and oversaw the project, said the project was reviewed by the Federal Railway Administration and the tracks had been inspected and tested for weeks.

Prior to Monday, passenger rail service between the two cities took a more circuitous, albeit more scenic, route. Amtrak used tracks that skirted the South Puget Sound past Steilacoom, up and around Point Defiance before heading into the train station in Tacoma.

For the high-speed passenger service, the new route more or less runs parallel to I-5, east of DuPont and Lakewood, on tracks occasionally used by freight and military trains. It cuts between six and 10 minutes off the trip, depending on who’s estimating.

Officials for Lakewood, Washington, which is along the new route, have raised concerns about possible derailments and collisions at intersections that are at grade in their city. They were also concerned that one area of the city, known as Tillicum, could be cut-off from the rest of the city if a derailment occurred along one stretch of track. The city filed a lawsuit against the new route but was unsuccessful.

Brynn Grimley, a spokeswoman for the city, said it’s too early to determine whether Lakewood would renew its legal challenge.

We’re waiting to see what comes out of the investigation,” Grimley said. “We don’t know what caused the derailment.”

Earlier this month Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson questioned some of the safety measures for the route coming through the city, although those comments weren’t directed to the overpass where the derailment happened, which is outside the city’s jurisdiction.

Both routes cross I-5 at slightly different points, with the new high-speed bypass using a graffiti-adorned bridge near Mounts Road. South of the overpass, the interstate dips down into the sometimes fog shrouded Nisqually River and the Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge.

Southbound traffic from South Tacoma and its suburbs may be rerouted for days, with cars and semis being sent onto two-lane roads that run through Joint Base Lewis McChord. Traffic from farther north is being asked to use a 65-mile detour by crossing the Narrows Bridge to the Olympic Peninsula, using state highways to get through Purdy, Walkers Landing and Shelton before catching U.S. Highway 101 that will eventually reconnect them with I-5 somewhere below Olympia.

The derailment cause is unknown, and awaits an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which may take weeks, if not months.

There are questions about whether the train’s speed was within the limit for that stretch. One source familiar with the initial investigation told the Associated Press there may have been something on the track; the source wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and couldn’t be named.

Gay Olson, Amtrak’s assistant superintendent for the Northwest, said until the investigation is complete, any comment on the cause is “pure speculation.”