Calling back to the 2015 Passenger Train Derailment Prevention Act, a delegation of Washington state officials have written Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao regarding a provision that mandates safety efforts at high-hazard track curves.
The correspondence follows the December derailment in Washington state of an inaugural Amtrak run that led to three deaths and more than 60 injuries. The provision being cited had required passenger railroads to identify high-hazard curves on tracks and submit action plans to the Department of Transportation (DOT).
“We don’t have all the facts yet, but we do know that the train was going almost three times faster than it should have been around that curve – my bill was intended to prevent these kinds of accidents, but it only works if it’s being enforced,” Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY), a member of the Transportation Committee, said. “We need to get to the bottom of this – the only thing that’s certain right now is that we have to stop these crashes. People’s lives are on the line.”
Maloney authored the aforementioned provision. He has been joined in his recent letter, though, by Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) and members of the Washington delegation. Investigators of the Amtrak crash in Washington determined it was going 78 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone near a curve. They have stated that positive train control could have likely prevented the accident.
“I spoke with Secretary Chao immediately following the train derailment in DuPont, and I intend to keep the conversation going with federal, state, and local authorities on what we can do to improve rail safety,” Heck, who represents the district in which the crash occurred, said. “Implementing this provision of existing law is one way we can reduce the likelihood and severity of train accidents.”
In their letter, the delegation asked for the status of passenger railroad speed limit action plans as required under the FAST Act of 2015, and specifically whether Amtrak has submitted any speed limit action plans to the DOT for review. They pressed for whether the DOT had reviewed and approved those plans and asked for copies of them to review themselves.