At least 6 dead, scores injured after Amtrak train plunges off bridge onto I-5

KOMO News

TACOMA, Wash. – An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a new route hurtled off an overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least six people authorities said.

Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train derailed about 40 miles south of Seattle before 8 a.m., Amtrak said. An official who was briefed on the investigation also says preliminary signs indicate the Amtrak train may have struck something on the track before going off the track, according to the Associated Press.  

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Ed Troyer, a spokesman with the Pierce County Sheriff’s office, said multiple people were killed aboard the southbound train.

The sheriff’s office said several vehicles on Interstate 5 were struck by falling train cars and multiple motorists were injured. No fatalities of motorists were reported.

Chris Karnes was on the train, three or four cars back from the front.

“We had just passed the city of DuPont and maybe two or three minutes after that and we felt a little bit of wobbling and then the next thing that we knew we were being catapulted into the seats in front of us and we could hear the train derailing and metal crunching,” Chris Karns told KOMO NewsRadio. “There were people screaming — everything was dark. We had to kick out the window in order to get off the train.”

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A total of 77 patients were taken to hospitals in Pierce and Thurston counties, said Cary Evans, communications and government affairs director of CHI Franciscan Health.

Four have the most severe injuries. Medical tents were set up in the highway median just south of DuPont.

The only car that is on the tracks is the rear locomotive,” Karnes told the Associated Press. “There are several cars that are hanging over the overpass.” 

Motorists said they drove up to find a train car hanging off the bridge, and dozens of Amtrak passengers stranding along the freeway. Motorists on both sides of the freeway began to help them.

“I was just shocked,” said Peter Zimmerman of Olympia. “I couldn’t believe it. It was like something out of a movie.”

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All southbound lanes of Interstate 5 are closed south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord and are expected to remain closed for the rest of the day, according to the State Patrol.

In a statement, Amtrak said the train that derailed was Train 501, offering service from Seattle to Portland.

The train was making the inaugural run on the new route as part of a $180.7 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that’s bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic. Lakewood city oficials had earlier expressed fears that the new route would cause serious accidents.

It left Seattle around 6 a.m., according to an Amtrak schedule, and was due in Portland about 3 1/2 hours later.

The train was going 81.1 mph moments before the derailment, according to transitdocs.com, a website that maps Amtrak train locations and speeds using data from the railroad’s train tracker app.

The maximum speed along the stretch of track, known as Point Defiance Bypass, is 79 mph, according to information about the project posted online by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Amtrak has established a toll-free number, 1-800-523-9101 for family and friends to call for information about loved ones aboard the train.

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