Workers say they warned Amtrak they did not feel properly trained on a new route before a passenger train derailed off the tracks in Washington State, CNN reports.
Three people were killed and at least 100 were injured in mid-December when the Amtrak 501, traveling 80 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone, derailed and landed on Interstate 5 near DuPont, Wash. The train was making its inaugural journey of a new Seattle-to-Portland run called the Point Defiance Bypass route.
Engineers and conductors expressed safety concerns and said training felt “totally inadequate,” with some runs performed at night and as many as six or more crew members stuffed into cars with just three seats. Engineers also said they did not feel like they got enough practice runs.
Amtrak told CNN in a statement its “highest priority is ensuring the safety of our passengers, our crew and the communities we serve.”
“We are actively taking measures to strengthen the safety of our operations, from adopting a safety management system approach used by commercial aviation to advancing Positive Train Control across the network,” the statement continued. “We will continue to work with the NTSB to learn from this accident and improve.”
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