System that could have automatically applied train’s brakes in Seattle-area incident is unlikely to be ready until next spring, officials say

The rush to launch a service on a new, faster Amtrak route near Seattle came at a deadly cost: none of the critical speed-control technology that could have prevented a derailment was active before the train set off on its maiden voyage.



Work to install the sophisticated, GPS-based technology known as positive train control is not expected to be completed on the newly opened 15-mile span where the train derailed until next spring, according to Sound Transit, the public agency that owns the tracks.

The train was going at 80mph in a 30mph zone on Monday when it raced off the rails as they curved toward a bridge, hurtling train cars on to a highway below, investigators said. Three people were killed, and dozens were injured. Federal investigators say they are looking into whether the engineer was distracted.

Amtrak derailment: train was going at nearly three times the speed limit Read more

A positive train control system could have detected the speeding and automatically applied the brakes to stop the train, said Najmedin Meshkati, a University of Southern California professor who has studied the technology for three decades. “It is another layer of safety,” he said.

Amtrak and the Washington department of transportation had started publicizing the switch to the new route in October. The agencies did not immediately respond to questions about why they did so while the speed-control technology was still months away.

Railroads are under government orders to install positive train control by the end of 2018 after the industry lobbied Congress to extend earlier deadlines, citing complexity and cost.

Play Video 0:43 Aerial footage shows aftermath of deadly Amtrak derailment near Seattle - video

Union Pacific, the country’s largest freight carrier, said it was spending about $2.9bn on the technology. Industry groups estimate railroads will spend a total of about $10bn to install and implement the systems.

Monday’s wreck is just the latest example of a deadly crash that experts say could have been prevented if the technology had been in place to slow down the train when engineers went too fast, got distracted or fell ill.

US investigators have listed a lack of such a system as a contributing factor in at least 25 crashes over the last 20 years, including two in the last four years in which a train approached sharp curves at more than double the speed limit.

Play Video 0:43 Aerial footage shows aftermath of deadly Amtrak derailment near Seattle - video

Positive train control was installed on 23% of the country’s passenger route miles and 37% of freight route miles as of July, the last time the Federal Railroad Administration updated its online tracker for the technology.

It is activated on the tracks Amtrak owns along the north-east corridor, from Boston to Washington DC, and on Amtrak’s Michigan line. Many of its locomotives are equipped for positive train control. Throughout the rest of the country, Amtrak operates on track owned by freight carriers and other entities that have made varying progress on installing the technology.

It is a work in progress on the route where the train derailed on Monday. Sensors have been installed, but the system needs to be synchronized, tested and certified before it goes online, a Sound Transit spokeswoman, Rachelle Cunningham, said.



The new $180.7m route was designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that is bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.



The National Transportation Safety Board first recommended the use of “automatic train control” in 1970, a year after two Penn Central commuter trains collided, killing four people and injuring 43.