Passenger train derails in Washington state, three killed

An Amtrak passenger train derailed on Monday during its inaugural run along a faster route through Washington state, sending part of the train crashing down onto a major highway and killing at least three passengers, authorities said.

The death toll could rise, as several people were seriously injured.

Speed of train 

Attention is now focused on the train's speed. Federal investigators on Monday said the train was traveling at 80 mph (130 kmh) in a 30 mph (50 kmh) zone.

Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member, told a news conference that information from the event data recorder in the rear locomotive provided information about the train's speed.

Dinh-Zarr says it's not yet known what caused the train to derail and that "it's too early to tell" why it was going so fast.

There were 80 passengers and five on-duty crew members on board when the train derailed and pulled 13 cars off the tracks.

Death toll could rise

The derailment caused "multiple fatalities," Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the local sheriff's office, told reporters at the scene. The death toll was at least three, but could rise.

About two hours after the accident, a US official who was briefed on the investigation said he was told at least six people were killed. The official said he had no new information to explain the discrepancy in the numbers.

Troyer said the train struck several cars on the highway, causing injuries but no additional deaths.

Seventy-seven people were transported to hospitals in Pierce and Thurston counties, the Tacoma-based CHI Franciscan Health healthcare network said in a statement. 

Approximately 78 passengers and five crew members were aboard the train, Amtrak said in a statement.

People escaped the derailed train by kicking out windows, passenger Chris Karnes told local news outlet KIRO 7.

"All of a sudden, we felt this rocking and creaking noise, and it felt like we were heading down a hill," Karnes said. 

"The next thing we know, we're being slammed into the front of our seats, windows are breaking, we stop, and there's water gushing out of the train. People were screaming."

The derailment occurred on the first day Amtrak trains began using a new inland route between the cities of Tacoma and Olympia, part of a project to reduce travel time. 

The rerouting takes trains along Interstate 5, eliminating a major choke point for passenger trains in Tacoma and allowing trains to reach speeds of 79 miles per hour (127 km per hour). 

Monday's train, which had been scheduled to depart Seattle at 6 a.m. (1400 GMT) for Portland, Oregon, was the first to run along the new route. 

It was not immediately clear whether the derailment, which came during a busy travel time one week before the Christmas holiday, was connected to the rerouting.