SEATTLE — Positive train control is now fully operational on the route of the Amtrak Cascades, the Washington state Department of Transportation has announced. However, there is still no date for returning Cascades trains to the Point Defiance bypass south of Tacoma, Wash.
Seattle TV station KIRO reports PTC equipment is now in place from Blaine, Wash., at the Canadian border, to Eugene, Ore. That includes the bypass, between Tacoma and Nisqually, Wash. Amtrak trains have remained off the bypass since the Dec. 18, 2017, derailment of the first Cascades train to use the bypass. Three people were killed when the train derailed while taking a curve at more than twice the posted speed limit, an accident PTC might have prevented.
WSDOT officials say they are waiting on a final accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board before planning the return of Amtrak trains to the bypass. An NTSB meeting on the accident is set for May [see “NTSB to meet May 21 on fatal ‘Amtrak Cascades’ derailment,” Trains News Wire, March 15.]
