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1 hour ago, Shaun said:

Seems like there is a gap in the market for highspeed double decker rail cars for the long distance market. 

Possibly for Bombardier to step up their game?

Between the problems with Toronto, NYC, and San Fransisco I'd say Bombardier has enough on their plate already. As far as I know Bombardier was not one of the 5 companies who submitted bids for the order in question back in 2012. 

Besides is there an incentive for anyone to design a new double-deck intercity railcar if there are no potential customers at this time? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does that mean they are going to build a pre-clearence facility in Montreal? 

I guess that wouldn't work for Niagara Falls since there are a lot of other stops along the way.  Even if you where to do pre-clearence in Toronto people would still need to get off and go through customs at Niagara Falls. 

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1 hour ago, Shaun said:

Does that mean they are going to build a pre-clearence facility in Montreal? 

I guess that wouldn't work for Niagara Falls since there are a lot of other stops along the way.  Even if you where to do pre-clearence in Toronto people would still need to get off and go through customs at Niagara Falls. 

That's the plan for Montrèal (see link in this post )

There's no plans for a Pre-clearence facility at Union. Since the Maple leaf is basicly a Via Train between Toronto and Niagara Falls Ont. 

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1 hour ago, MiWay0310 said:

Very sad to hear this. It was apparently on its inaugural run.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/18/us/amtrak-derailment-washington/index.html

Correct.  Train 501 is one of two new Cascades services from Portland to Seattle that started today. Bringing service up to 7x per day, from 5x. 

CBC is now reporting "multiple fatalities."

 

I wonder if it derailed before it hit the bridge? Anyone know what the speed limit is there?

According to CBC, it looks like 79 mph. 

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28 minutes ago, cprted said:

Correct.  Train 501 is one of two new Cascades services from Portland to Seattle that started today. Bringing service up to 7x per day, from 5x. 

CBC is now reporting "multiple fatalities."

 

According to CBC, it looks like 79 mph. 

Yes, but there is apparently a 30 mph restriction heading into that curve. The damage and spread of the wreckage indicates that it it was traveling much faster than that. An online tracking website apparently reported that it was going 81 mph right before this happened. 

 

1 hour ago, Shaun said:

I wonder if it derailed before it hit the bridge? Anyone know what the speed limit is there?

Given the position of the lead SC-44 locomotive (upright on the highway to the right of the bridge), it looks like it did derail before entering the bridge.

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3 minutes ago, WMATAC40LF said:

Yes, but there is apparently a 30 mph restriction heading into that curve. The damage and spread of the wreckage indicates that it it was traveling much faster than that. An online tracking website apparently reported that it was going 81 mph right before this happened. 

 

Yet another disaster preventable by PTC. Is the line even getting the equipment, considering its mountainous terrain would make operating conditions difficult?

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13 minutes ago, WMATAC40LF said:

Yes, but there is apparently a 30 mph restriction heading into that curve. The damage and spread of the wreckage indicates that it it was traveling much faster than that. An online tracking website apparently reported that it was going 81 mph right before this happened. 

 

Given the position of the lead SC-44 locomotive (upright on the highway to the right of the bridge), it looks like it did derail before entering the bridge.

Reports are varying from 79-81mph but that's the general idea, yes. 

It had a Charger? I didn't know AMTK was operating the 44 on the cascades routes; I suppose this is recent. 

This is sounding eerily similar to the Philadelphia accident...way overspeed on a restricted section of track. 

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1 hour ago, Transit geek said:

Yet another disaster preventable by PTC. Is the line even getting the equipment, considering its mountainous terrain would make operating conditions difficult?

By law its required to have it eventually, but the system has not yet been activated on this portion of track according to Amtrak. According to the WSDOT website they were hoping to roll PTC out on this line in 2018.

 

1 hour ago, MiWay0310 said:

It had a Charger? I didn't know AMTK was operating the 44 on the cascades routes; I suppose this is recent. 

 

Yes. WSDOT ordered 8 units numbered 1400-1407 for the Cascades Service to replace the 6 F59s. Unit involved is 1402:

  

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2 minutes ago, WMATAC40LF said:

By law its required to have it eventually, but the system has not yet been activated on this portion of track according to Amtrak.

 

Yes. WSDOT ordered 8 units numbered 1400-1407 for the Cascades Service to replace the 6 F59s. Unit involved is 1402:

I see, thanks. 

I'm surprised they hadn't installed the PTC already, before the speed increases and track modifications to that sector. 

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Best to wait for some information from the NTSB.  If I were to judge from the wreckage, I'd guess the lead jumped the rail, went down the hill and stopped just beyond the bottom at which point the remaining cars started coming off the other side of the bridge.  I'm less inclined to jump to the conclusion of speeding on the curve.  My first instinct was to compare to the Philadelphia incident but in this case, I'm wondering if the new Charger locomotive is a significant factor.  It wouldn't be the first time Amtrak has had a derailment problem with a new locomotive.  In the 70's the new (then) SDP40F had a series of derailments initially thought to be a design flaw in the locomotive which actually turned out to be a combination of the locomotive and baggage cars.  Perhaps there's an issue with Chargers and Talgo sets.

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29 minutes ago, Bus_Medic said:

It’s one thing to read it in the papers, it’s another completely to have a tragedy touch you personally. Life is fragile....

I don’t even know what he looked like, but I’ll be thinking of him and his loved ones a lot in the coming days.

He might of been here for that BHA convention that saw a Van Hool visit Malvern, not too sure (as I wasn't able to attend at the time).

25398932_10155687038209892_2113897555430

Both men depicted in the photo were confirmed to be two of the three deceased.

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