Amtrak Train Derailment As Seen From Above

A passenger train on a newly opened high-speed Amtrak route jumped the tracks on an overpass south of Tacoma on Monday, slamming rail cars into a busy highway, killing at least six people and injuring more than 75 others, officials said.



The derailment of Amtrak Train No. 501, making the inaugural run of a new service from Seattle to Portland, dropped a 132-ton locomotive in the southbound lanes of the Northwest’s busiest travel corridor. Two passenger coaches also fell partly in the traffic lanes, and two other coaches were left dangling off the bridge, one of them wedged against a tractor-trailer. On the highway below lay seven crumpled cars and trucks, and huge chunks of concrete that were ripped away from the damaged overpass.



All 12 of the train’s coaches and one of its two engines derailed.