Amtrak didn’t wait for system that could’ve prevented wreck

By MICHAEL SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO

Associated Press

The rush to launch service on a new, faster Amtrak route near Seattle came at a deadly cost: none of the critical speed-control technology that could have prevented a derailment was active before the train set off on its maiden voyage.

Work to install the sophisticated, GPS-based technology known as positive train control isn’t expected to be completed until next spring on the newly opened 15-mile (24-kilometer) span where the train derailed, according to Sound Transit, the public agency that owns the tracks.

The rest of the project was “under a very aggressive schedule,” according to documents posted on Sound Transit’s website. The terms and conditions for funding the $180.7 million project, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, required track, signal and other infrastructure work be completed by June 30, the documents said. Even a one-month delay would “significantly impact the project.”

The train in Monday’s crash was going 80 mph (129 kph) in a 30 mph (48 kph) zone when it raced off the rails as they curved toward a bridge, hurtling train cars onto a highway below, investigators said. Three people were killed, and dozens were injured. Federal investigators say they are looking into whether the engineer was distracted.

A positive train control system could have detected the speeding and automatically applied the brakes to stop the train, said Najmedin Meshkati, a University of Southern California professor who has studied the technology for three decades.

“It is another layer of safety,” he said.

Amtrak and the Washington Department of Transportation started publicizing the switch to the new route in October. Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that “no one wants PTC more than me” but would not directly answer questions about why it is taking so long to get the speed-control technology up and running across the board.

“I’m a huge believer in positive train control,” he said at a news conference Tuesday evening. “It just makes so much scientific sense.”

Anderson said the company’s safety culture can continue to improve and said the crash should be seen as a “wake-up call.”

“It’s not acceptable that we’re involved in these types of accidents,” he said.

Railroads are under government orders to install positive train control by the end of 2018 after the industry lobbied Congress to extend earlier deadlines, citing complexity and cost.