2017 Washington Amtrak Cascades Derailment

A passenger train on a brand-new route should not end up scattered across a highway, but that’s exactly what happened when Amtrak Cascades Train 501 hit a tight curve at more than double the posted limit and derailed onto I-5. We walk through how the Point Defiance Bypass was designed to improve service, why key infrastructure fixes were cut, and how a “permanent speed reduction” became the main defense at the most dangerous spot on the line. 

We also dig into the safety system that could have changed everything: Positive Train Control. PTC can track a train’s location, enforce speed limits, and trigger emergency braking when crews miss a warning or misjudge a hazard. The problem is it wasn’t active yet when revenue service began. From there, the story turns into a blunt look at real-world training and human factors: an experienced engineer learning a new route while adapting to a new Charger locomotive, limited hands-on time, and reference points that are easy to miss in darkness. 

Then we follow the crash itself, the casualties and rescue response, and the cleanup that shut the bypass down until full PTC implementation. Finally, we break down the NTSB conclusions and the accountability question that hangs over so many transportation disasters: when a system is built to rely on perfect human performance, who is really responsible when it fails? Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show.

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Transcript

The Case For More Rail

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Personally, I think they need to expand and add more high speed rails throughout the country. Currently there's only two, one in Massachusetts that goes from Boston to Washington, and one in Florida that goes from Orlando to Miami. While there is a few others currently in development, there's nothing really planned to go cross country, which would honestly be great. Now, don't get me wrong, I love flying and all that, but I think it'd be pretty neat to travel the country by high speed rail. Well, as long as it's done properly, you know, with all the safety controls in place, and the engineers fully and properly trained. You know, unlike what happened when the Amtrak Cascades line opened up in 2017 in Washington and the train derailed on its inaugural run.

Setting Up The 2017 Wreck

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So, what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History's A Disaster. Tonight, we're driving this train right off an overpass and into the 2017 Washington Amtrak Derailment.

A Very Strange Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_00 1:07

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Cascades Route And Point Defiance

SPEAKER_00 2:32

In nineteen seventy one, Amtrak opened up a new passenger rail corridor called the Amtrak Cascades, which was a four hundred and sixty seven mile route from Vancouver, British Columbia, down through Seattle, Washington, and into Eugene. Parts of this route used rail lines that had been around for decades, one of them being the Pofiance Line. The Pofiance Line follows the coastline of the Puget Sound between Tacoma and DuPont. The original Pofiance Line was built as part of the Prairie Lines in 1874. Later in nineteen fourteen, the Point Defiance Bypass was opened up and offered a faster and flatter coastal route around Puget Sound. It skipped the inland routes and it's more difficult to traverse inclines. The Point Defiance Line ran both passenger and freight services, which kinda put the line at odds with itself. The passenger line needed a higher amount of scheduling, meaning more trains to meet passenger needs. While the needs of the freight line called for a higher gauge of rail so they could move bigger and bigger cargo. Boeing having such a large presence in the area and being such a major company and employer most likely was the biggest one pushing for this with the need to move large aircraft parts around. One of their main 737 factories just happened to be south of Seattle. So guess who won out? Yep, Boeing, obviously. Two tunnels on the line, which had previously had two tracks running through them were switched to a single track so they could run larger freight through them. Plus, this area was prone to mudslides which would often delay the trains. Not exactly an ideal situation for passenger trains that needed to keep a tight schedule.

Freight Needs Clash With Passengers

SPEAKER_00 4:30

So in 1992, the Washington State Department of Transportation sought out a new alternative. They began looking for a new Amtrak route. They decided that the American Lake Branch lines to the south and the old prairie line to the north would make a great bypass for the Port Defiance line, which would bypass the more coastal line with its mudslides and tunnels. So the Department of Transportation published its plans for the Amtrak Cascade Service in 2006. It set out all the work required to get the ball going on what would be a massive project. This project would include new track signals and a new bridge and a tight curve straightened over the I5 near the Nisqually River. The bridge and curve would have cost two hundred and thirty million dollars alone, and well, since the whole project budget was a little over one hundred eighty million, they decided to cut that part out. Who needs a new bridge and less dangerous curve anyways? After all, we can just put in a permanent speed reduction. Max speed on the line was eighty miles per hour and reduced to thirty coming into the curve near the river. No reason to suspect anything could possibly go wrong with that. Yeah, we'll just give some advanced warning to the driver with a couple yellow and black boards placed two miles from the speed restriction. That'll surely do the trick. Construction began in 2010 and was mostly done by 2017. Everything except for the positive train control system. Which

The Bypass Plan And Budget Cuts

SPEAKER_00 6:10

is a GPS and computer based system that tracks the train's location in real time, tracks and enforces speed limits, and can automatically trigger emergency braking systems in the event the crew missed something like a safety warning or an unknown route hazard. So it's obviously just some dumb redundant system that's, you know, not really that important. Especially since Amtrak wanted to get their new Cascade service running on the new route as soon as possible. They just had to train its engineers and conductors on the route. Training that mostly included locomotives everyone was familiar with, and a new locomotive called the charger that was just released by Simmons in 2016. And since the charger was the latest and greatest locomotive out

Positive Train Control Left Offline

SPEAKER_00 6:59

there, it'd be the main one running the Cascades line, which meant the engineers and conductors had to not only learn the new route, but they had to learn how to operate a whole new locomotive. This involved a lot of classroom time as well as being shown the operating compartment and familiarization with the display screens and controls. However, none of this classroom time involved any operational time, and observation rides were only occasionally conducted on the charger. Training for the new route included a number of observation rides, then making two northbound and one southbound trip while driving the train under supervision of a road foreman. And yeah, fuck that, that is not a lot of time. Training on any new system needs a lot more hands-on time than that. You can talk any subject to death in the classroom, but that never fully prepares you for doing whatever it is in the real world. During risk assessing the route, the tight curve near the Nisqually River was highlighted as a key point of interest in the line's characteristics. Engineers during their training are meant to learn breaking points for stations and speed restrictions. And this new route was no different. Some would use the mile point signs to help identify their locations. A written exam on the physical characteristics of the territory, which included a question about the curve at mile point nineteen near the curve was included in the training. However, it didn't question potential landmarks that could be used to keep situational awareness during a trip. Signs are easy to miss. Knowing possible landmarks to know at the least your rough

Training Gaps On New Route

SPEAKER_00 8:50

location, always a good idea. But Amtrak didn't think that was important, and the little bit of training done to learn a whole new route and new equipment was completely adequate. Probably because I never thought much about it before, but thought it was kind of funny having to learn a new route on a train. You're only going in one of two directions. Not exactly like you can get lost or anything. Then I realized it's more than just getting from point A to point B. It's learning the curves and the inclines, where you need to slow down and where you can go just a little bit faster if you needed

First Morning Run Turns Deadly

SPEAKER_00 9:28

to. But anyways, the morning of december eighteenth, twenty seventeen marks the first passenger service over the new line. The engineer isn't alone in the cab for this run. He is accompanied today by a qualifying conductor who is there to learn the new route. The train consists of the new charger locomotive, twelve carriages, and a rear locomotive. The engineer had worked for Airtrack since may seventeenth, two thousand four, originally as a conductor for several years before eventually becoming a certified engineer in August of twenty thirteen, working mainly out of Portland. He was experienced and by all reports, a safe and thoughtful engineer. Train 501 left the Holgate Street Station at 6 AM and made its short journey to the first stop of the morning at King Street Station. The train was running 10 minutes late, but that really wasn't too much of a concern. The train continued on to Tacoma Dome Station. In doing so, entering the Point Defiance Bypass Route. The engineer and qualifying conductor spoken frequently about the route characteristics and general work bullshit. Due to the time of day and year, it was still dark outside as train 501 passed the points for the DuPont Yard, the engineer called out his location. At 732, the train went past the advanced speed restriction sign at mouthpost seventeen, roughly two miles before the curve. The engineer intended to apply the brakes of the sign indicating control point one hundred eighty eight, roughly one mile before the curve and near a signal box. As the train approached the controlling signal, the headlights washed out the sign, and the engineer missed his braking point. At seven hundred thirty three, the sign for mile point nineteen went past, just a half mile from the curve, and still no attempt at braking was made. Suddenly an over speed alarm started to sound. The engineer, unfamiliar with the charger locomotive, didn't react to the warning. He saw the signal at mile point nineteen and assumed they were at CP one hundred eighty eight, but it was too late. Aboard were five Amtrak employees, a technician from the train manufacturer Talgo, and seventy-seven passengers. At seven hundred thirty three, the concrete structural walls came into view on both sides of the track, leading to the thirty mile per hour restriction. However, the train at this point was going eighty three miles per hour. Realizing the mistake, the engineer was recorded on the cab recorder saying we're dead. Seconds later, at seventy eight miles per hour, train five hundred one hit the curve going over double the speed limit. And still, the engineer didn't make any emergency braking. At 734, the lead charger locomotive and seven rail cars behind it derailed. The locomotive and rail cars slammed down the embankment beyond the curb, blocking the southbound lanes of the I-5 and leaking three hundred and fifty gallons of fuel down on the roadway. The only part of the train that remained on the track was the rear locomotive. Eight vehicles were damaged by the train crashing down on top of them, injuring eight of the ten people using the I-5.

Victims Ejections And Immediate Response

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Many of the passengers were able to escape direct train, but some were severely injured. Fortunately, only three passengers on the train were killed in the accident. And I know that sounds horrible to say, every death is a tragedy. However, in a crash of this magnitude, only losing three lives is a fairly good outcome. Especially since there would be some fuckery going around later about how the rail cars were substandard and unsafe. Something the manufacturer Tolgo would vehemently deny. And I absolutely agree with Talgo on this. Going back even fifty years, a train derailment that ended with the train plunging off the side of an embankment onto a highway would have led to a much higher casualty rate. Plus, there's the actual cause of death of the three victims. Two of them were killed when they were ejected from the train, as in almost all vehicular accidents. Being ejected is one of the worst possible outcomes for a passenger. In motor vehicle accidents, ejections count for nearly 30% of all fatalities. Ejections also have an 83% fatality rate, meaning if you get thrown from your car, there's an 83% chance you're not going to survive that. I know that's motor vehicles and we're talking about a train, but I would assume a train ejection gonna be a little bit more lethal than a motor vehicle. But I digress. The third passenger had been killed when they were struck by a wheel assembly that had broken loose from the train and struck them during the crash. Wrong place, wrong time, just pure bad luck. Anyways, fortunately the engineer and qualifying conductor were among the survivors. And I say fortunately because they would be a great asset during the following investigation. At 736, the first 911 calls came in and within four minutes the first emergency responders in the form of DuPont police arrived to assist. Local first responders were quick to arrive on scene to shut the IFI down and see to the wounded. The most severely injured were sent to multiple hospitals in the region. All other rail services were diverted along the old route, and all services along the point defined bypass were canceled until the line was fully protected by positive train control, which would take another two years. On december twentieth, southbound lanes of the I5 were reopened after some of the wreckage was removed. In total, the destruction and cleanup would cost in excess of forty million dollars, which would involve completely riding off train five oh one and scrapping it.

NTSB Findings And Who Failed

SPEAKER_00 15:56

With the deaths and the damage done, the NTSB quickly launched an investigation. And of course, who would be the star of the investigation? The engineer driving the train, of course. Nothing like firsthand knowledge of exactly what happened to help out the investigation. He was interviewed and found that he was not distracted during the drive. However, he was clearly not familiar enough with the route or the locomotive. He had passed all the assessments, which, along with his previously good driving record, would point the finger squarely at the training being the problem. Plus, there's the whole not having the entire positive train control system online thing. In the NTSB's final report, they summarized the root cause of the crash. The National Transport Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the Amtrak 501 derailment was Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority's failure to provide an effective mitigation for the hazardous curve without positive train control in place, which allowed the Amtrak engineer to enter the 30 mile per hour curve at too high of a speed due to his inadequate training on the territory and inadequate training on the newer equipment. Contributing to the accident was the Washington State Department of Transportation's decision to start revenue service without being assured that safety certification and verification have been completed to the level determined in the preliminary hazard assessment. In other words, they placed all the blame squarely on the transit authority and the Department of Transportation, which is right the fuck where it belongs. Which is great. Far too many times I've seen things like this where they try to throw the engineer or pilot or whoever under the bus and blame everything on them and find the government or corporate entity blameless or near enough to it. My personal feelings the unnamed engineer couldn't find his name anyways, it's probably out there, but admittedly, it looked too hard for it. Despite the lack of braking attempts, he's is blameless or at the very least mostly blameless. He was thrown on a new route with new equipment with the barest possible amount of training or time to at least somewhat familiarize himself with the route. That's a corporate failure, not a personal one. I'd put that lack of route knowledge at the top of the list as far as what's more important. Even with having the barest knowledge of how to operate an unfamiliar locomotive, knowing the route and where you need to slow down or speed up or whatever, without having to rely on watching for signs is so much more important. Think by it, if you drive the same way to work every day, you don't have to look for signs. You know the road, you know where you need to slow down or where any possible hazards are, or where the cops like to sit running radar. That knowledge stays with you whether you're driving a car you've had for 10 years or some brand new car packed with all the fancy bells and whistles. Granted, those bells and whistles might throw you off a bit when you have some strange alarm you never heard before going off in your face, which might fuck you up if you don't know where you're going, but you still know where you're going.

PTC Finally Arrives Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 19:32

After the accident, which closed the bypass to Amtrak service, the Department of Transportation announced that it would not resume service until the full implementation of positive train control. Fucking hooray, they should have done that the first time. Service was then scheduled to restart in early twenty nineteen. The positive train control system was finally fully installed by the end of twenty eighteen and activated on the point defiance bypass in March of twenty nineteen. After the NTSB presented its final report on the accident, the Department of Transportation issued their own statement that they would need time to analyze the report before resuming service on the line. The restoration of Amtrak service on the Pofiance Bypass was then pushed back to 2020, after agreements with local officials and the arrival of new Talgo railcars. Passenger services on the bypass would finally resume on November of 2021 following delays due to COVID 19. And that was the 2017 Washington Amtrak Derailment. Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your apple choice, and you can reach out to the show at history as a disaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions. As well as following the show on social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whatever. And share the episode. Your friends will love it. If you're gonna train your little penguin friends, don't half ass it. Penguins are exceptionally active, especially in the waters, so keep that in mind when you're secretly training a private penguin army to take over the world. Chase that dream. Live for today, cause tomorrow is never guaranteed. Thanks and goodbye.