Empire Builder accident (9/25/21)

[Cal]

This is the exact reason that all Amtrak diners and lounge cars have to have booth seating or chairs bolted to ground. Also why the coffee makers have to be installed.

Mhm, but also all the plates, food in the kitchen and up top. And they should've been in dinner service too.

 

[tim49424]

Really, really, really, really hoping the five fatalities is a bad rumor.

Helena Montana paper reports three dead. I couldn't read more than the first paragraph because it's behind a paywall.

 

[87YJ]

Also appears to be at a switch... perhaps one of the cars picked the switch at speed... looks like back trucks of diner are on the ground.

Very sad.

3,000feet past a switch, makes you wonder.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

3,000feet past a switch, makes you wonder.

Engineer probably didn’t even dump the air, the cars did that for him when they separated. Anyone know what the track speed is there?

 

[Cal]

https://www.ktvh.com/news/montana-news/amtrak-train-derails-along-montanas-hi-line
Nothing on deaths, but confirms people were trapped. About 150 on board, 13 crew.

 

[PRR 60]

Billings Gazette reports "at least three fatalities."

Billings Gazette

 

[TinCan782]

Helena Montana paper reports three dead. I couldn't read more than the first paragraph because it's behind a paywall.

ABC news in Chicago also reporting 3 deaths...
https://abc7chicago.com/amtrak-train-derails-in-montana;-injuries-reported-officials-say/11047795/

 

[TinCan782]

Engineer probably didn’t even dump the air, the cars did that for him when they separated. Anyone know what the track speed is there?

Looking at my GPS tracklogs from my last two trips through there...at Buelow we were travling about 70 on one trip and 78 on the other.
Here is Buelow on Google maps...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/B...8bac73bdf7cdfc!8m2!3d48.5597119!4d-110.837186

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Looking at my GPS tracklogs from my last two trips through there...at Buelow we were travling about 70 on one trip and 78 on the other.
Here is Buelow on Google maps...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/B...8bac73bdf7cdfc!8m2!3d48.5597119!4d-110.837186

That’s what I was thinking. I’m guessing the diner picked the switch and the whiplash force sent those last few cars over and broke the coupler.

The lounge probably got dragged along a bit before ending up on its side.

That type of force at 79 mph would be really bad.

 

[frequentflyer]

The Superliners are an amazing piece of engineering and my hats off to the Pullman engineers that found a way to keep the CG so low in a tall car. But on an embankment, physics again takes over. The unfortunate thing about sitting 16 feet in the air, further to the ground when rolling over.

The cars separating is concerning, that is why Amtrak trains have stronger couplers than freight cars, you want to cars to stay together,

Saddened about the three fatalities, condolences and sympathies to their families that will receive the bad news.

 

[dwebarts]

The NY Times report (forgive me if I glossed over it in earlier links).

 

[Amtrak Apple]

So it look like the SSL and the two coach cars are on their sides and quite a ways back from the rest of the train and sleeper/dining cars stayed upright? Yikes.

 

[Cal]

So it look like the SSL and the two coach cars are on their sides and quite a ways back from the rest of the train and sleeper/dining cars stayed upright? Yikes.

The last car is a sleeper.

 

[Amtrak Apple]

I should say, the coaches are a ways back from the rest of the train, not the SSL.

 

[TinCan782]

The last car is a sleeper.

The Portland sleeper (#27)

 

[PRR 60]

The is the tracking log of #7 (24). Shows 79mph just before the derailment. Scroll down to the map and click on the dots.

Train Details

 

[Amtrak Apple]

The last car is a sleeper.

Ohhhhh, so one coach and one sleeper? I've only ridden that specific route once - I take it the lineup is atypical from the east bound train?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

So it look like the SSL and the two coach cars are on their sides and quite a ways back from the rest of the train and sleeper/dining cars stayed upright? Yikes.

The diner is partially derailed but upright. The SSL is on its side behind the diner.

The rest of the Portland section is on its side and seperate from the train.

(I’m just stating what it appears to me in the photos - I may have missed something)

 

[NW cannonball]

Just saw this headline -- searching for mmore news

 

[George K]

The NY Times report (forgive me if I glossed over it in earlier links).

“Everybody who is alive has been extricated from the wreck,” Ms. Frickel said.

Well, that certainly doesn't sound good.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I forgot this is the empire builder consist... what I was calling the diner might have been a coach. Don’t they usually have the Seattle coaches between the diner and ssl?

 

[20th Century Rider]

Deep sadness when Amtrak is working so hard to survive.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/25/us/amtrak-train-derailed-montana/index.html

(CNN)Three people are dead after an Amtrak train derailed in Montana on Saturday afternoon, the Liberty County Sheriff's office said in a statement to CNN.
Authorities would not speak on the number of injured or the extent of their injuries.
A statement from the railway said five cars from Amtrak's Empire Builder train 7/27 derailed near Joplin, Montana, injuring an undisclosed number of passengers.

MODERATOR NOTE: edited because of copyright regulations

 

[Amtrak Apple]

The diner is partially derailed but upright. The SSL is on its side behind the diner.

The rest of the Portland section is on its side and seperate from the train.

(I’m just stating what it appears to me in the photos - I may have missed something)

Oh, wow. I feel a little weird thinking about this because if I was on this train, I'd have been in the cars that were still upright. (I'm along the Seattle route.) Yikes.

 

[fdaley]

Horrible news. And those photos. We always tell ourselves that the train is the safest way to travel, and it's true, but that only makes it more disturbing when something like this happens. How many times have we all banged over a switch at 79 mph?

 

[Cal]

I forgot this is the empire builder consist... what I was calling the diner might have been a coach. Don’t they usually have the Seattle coaches between the diner and ssl?

Yep, they do. Usually two but this train only had one due to covid.

Oh, wow. I feel a little weird thinking about this because if I was on this train, I'd have been in the cars that were still upright. (I'm along the Seattle route.) Yikes.

This is the typical consist for trains 27/7 and 28/8

Two engines
Baggage
Trans dorm
1-2 Seattle sleepers
Diner
1-2 Seattle coaches
Lounge
1-2 Portland coaches
1 Portland sleeper


Everything in italics derailed, everything in bold was turned on it's side in this wreck.