Washington mayor warned 'it is inevitable that someone is going to get killed' on new Amtrak line just weeks before train derailed at 80mph on 30mph curve killing three

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The mayor of a town near where an Amtrak train derailed in its first-ever run along a faster route in Washington warned that it was just a matter of time before someone was killed by a high-speed train.

The train was travelling at 81 mph a quarter of a mile before it reached curve with a 30 mph speed limit and derailed near Tacoma on Monday, killing three and injuring dozens of others.

Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson warned in early December that the Department of Transportation needed to add more safety measures before launching the high-speed trains.

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Rescue personnel and equipment are seen at the scene where an Amtrak passenger train derailed on a bridge over interstate highway I-5 in DuPont, Washington

The train was travelling at 81 mph a quarter of a mile before it reached curve with a 30 mph speed limit and derailed near Tacoma on Monday, killing three and injuring dozens of others

Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson warned in early December that the Department of Transportation needed to add more safety measures before launching the high-speed trains

The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off the overpass (pictured) Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing some people, authorities said

A track chart prepared by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows the maximum speed drops from 79 mph to 30 mph for passenger trains just before the tracks curve to cross Interstate 5, which is where the train went off the tracks

The city of Lakewood is just miles from the accident site, where a train hurtled off an overpass and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below.

'Come back when there is that accident, and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements,' he said, according to KOMO News. 'Or you can go back now and advocate for the money to do it, because this project was never needed and endangers our citizens.'

He added: 'It’s virtually inevitable that someone is going to get killed that wouldn’t be killed otherwise. This is unacceptable.'

The city of Lakewood, where Anderson (pictured) is mayor) is just miles from the accident site, where a train hurtled off an overpass on Monday

The cause of Monday's accident has yet to be determined, and it could take months for investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board to reach a conclusion.

But website that maps location and speed using data from Amtrak's train tracker app showed the train was going 81.1 mph about a quarter of a mile from the point where it derailed, where the speed limit is significantly lower.

A track chart prepared by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows the maximum speed drops from 79 mph to 30 mph for passenger trains just before the tracks curve to cross Interstate 5, which is where the train went off the tracks.

Bella Dinh-Zarr, an National Transportation Safety Board member, said at a Monday night news conference that information from the event data recorder in the rear locomotive provided information about the train's speed. 

Dinh-Zarr said it's not yet known what caused the train to derail and that 'it's too early to tell' why it was going so fast.

After the crash, the injured called out as rescuers - including people who had been in cars on their morning freeway commute - rushed to help. 

The cause of Monday's accident has yet to be determined, and it could take months for investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board to reach a conclusion

Bella Dinh-Zarr, an National Transportation Safety Board member, said at a Monday night news conference that information from the event data recorder in the rear locomotive provided information about the train's speed

Dinh-Zarr said it's not yet known what caused the train to derail and that 'it's too early to tell' why it was going so fast

In a statement, the FBI said local police were the primary responders and there was no information suggesting 'an elevated risk to Washington residents'

The train, which was carrying nearly 80 passengers and seven crew, derailed in DuPont about halfway between Tacoma and the state capital Olympia on a curve that passes over busy Interstate 5 at about 7.40am (15.40 GMT)

Pictures from the scene showed one Amtrak train car overturned and crushed on the interstate highway and others dangling from the overpass

One of the train passengers was Emma Shafer, who found herself at a 45-degree angle staring at the seats in front of her that had dislodged and swung around.

'It felt oddly silent after the actual crashing,' Shafer said. 'Then there was people screaming because their leg was messed up ... I don't know if I actually heard the sirens, but they were there. A guy was like, "Hey, I'm Robert. We'll get you out of here".'

In a statement, the FBI said local police were the primary responders and there was no information suggesting 'an elevated risk to Washington residents'.

The train, which was carrying nearly 80 passengers and seven crew, derailed in DuPont about halfway between Tacoma and the state capital Olympia on a curve that passes over busy Interstate 5 at about 7.40am (15.40 GMT).

Pictures from the scene showed one Amtrak train car overturned and crushed on the interstate highway and others dangling from the overpass.

Several other carriages of the 14-car train also ended up on the highway, shutting down a key section of the busy artery that connects the greater Seattle metropolitan area to Olympia. All but one car jumped the tracks.

An official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that preliminary signs indicate that Train 501 may have struck something before going off the track. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Work crews prepare to clear southbound I-5 lanes at the scene of the Amtrak train derailment on December 18

An Amtrak train derailed near DuPont, Washington around 7:40am Monday - causing multiple injuries and fatalities 

Thirteen of the 14 cars on the train derailed in the early Monday morning incident 

In addition to the three fatalities, about 100 people were injured - including both passengers and motorists

In addition, the new high-tech Positive Train Control (PTC) system that each of the brand Amtrak Cascade engines are equipped with was not switched on.

The PTC computer system which prevents a train from exceeding a speed limit and can detect objects or collisions ahead is fitted to all the new Charger locomotives on the Seattle to Portland line.

However, according to CNN, at a conference call today, Amtrak President and Co-CEO Richard Anderson said Positive Train Control was not activated on the tracks at the time.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office said thirteen of the train's fourteen cars derailed. One of them crashed onto freeway below, hitting five cars and two semi-trucks. Multiple motorists were injured, but none killed.

The train was making the inaugural run on the new Cascade route as part of a $180.7 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that's bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.

The Amtrak schedule called for the train to leave Seattle around 6am and arrive in Portland about 3 1/2 hours later.

The new route includes a bypass built on an existing inland rail line that runs along Interstate 5 from Tacoma to DuPont, near where Train 501 derailed. Track testing was completed in January and February in advance of Monday's launch, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The train set off from Seattle at 6am and planned to get into Portland, Oregon a little more than three hours later

The derailment happened near the town of DuPont, Washington, on an updated set of train line 

Cars from an Amtrak train that derailed above lie spilled onto Interstate 5, Monday, December 18, 2017, in DuPont

The possibility that the wreck was caused by something on the tracks fed into concerns voiced by local officials about the risk of high-speed trains crossing busy streets. The mayor of a town near the derailment had warned about the danger of an accident at a public meeting only two weeks ago.

Daniel Konzelman, 24, was driving parallel to the train on his way to work as an accountant in Olympia. He was about 30 seconds ahead of the train on the freeway when he saw it derail.

Konzelman, who was driving with a friend, said he pulled off the freeway and then ran down along the tracks and over the bridge to get to the scene. 

They saw three cars and a semi-truck on the freeway that had been damaged by the derailment. There were train cars with their roofs ripped off, or that were tipped upside down, on both sides of the track or turned sideways on the bridge.

They climbed into train cars and found people hurt — some pinned underneath the train, others who appeared to be dead, he said. 

If they were mobile and seemed stable, he helped them climb out. If they appeared seriously hurt, he tried to comfort them by talking to them.

'I just wanted to help people because I would want people to help me,' he said. 'I'm an Eagle Scout. I have a lot of first-aid training and emergency response training.'

The solid route is the updated line that opened Monday. Because it's straighter than the old Puget Sound route, trains could go faster 

They stayed for nearly two hours before hitting the road again.

'I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. I saw a little bit of both,' he said.

In a radio transmission immediately after the accident, the conductor can be heard saying the train was coming around a corner and was crossing a bridge that passed over Interstate 5 when it derailed.

FIRST DAY OF $181MILLION HIGH-SPEED RAIL PROJECT 

A look at the new locomotives for the Cascade line 

Today was the first day of the new multi-million Amtrak Cascades train service daily along the Portland-Seattle corridor.

The more direct route diverged from the shared track which operated with freight trains.

The project was known as the Point Defiance Bypass.

Avoiding a more scene route along the area's iconic Puget Sound, the new high speed line is designed to take 10 minutes off the travel time and travel at up to 80mph.

Amtrak issued a press released last week to say that using this route would allow for two more daily round-trips between Seattle and Portland.

It would also help trains avoid traveling around tight corners and tunnels.

The Amtrak/Cascade trains are pulled by a state-of-the art locomotive known as a 'Charger'.

Weighing 42,000 pounds and able to produce 4,400-horsepower they new, quieter and faster engines have been testing for the last month.

They are equipped with positive train control systems which automatically stop trains when troubled is detected. However, these are not due to be activate till 2018.

The Washington State Department of Transportation said that at the moment it has no theories as to what caused the derailment.

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Dispatch audio also indicated that the engineer survived with bleeding from the head and both eyes swollen shut.

'I'm still figuring that out. We've got cars everywhere and down onto the highway,' he tells the dispatcher, who asks if everyone is OK.

Aleksander Kristiansen, a 24-year-old exchange student at the University of Washington from Copenhagen, was going to Portland to visit the city for the day.

'I was just coming out of the bathroom when the accident happened. My car just started shaking really, really badly,' he said.

The back of his train car was wide open because it had separated from the rest of the train, so he and others were able to jump out to safety.

Alex Rozier, a King TV reporter, told NBC News that he got off the train about 10 minutes before the derailment, after taking footage early on in the inaugural trip.

He said there were many people on the train for its first trip, including rail enthusiasts. Passengers were given commemorative lanyards for the journey.

Monday's inaugural trip was the culmination of the $181million project, that also included construction of a new train station at Tacoma.

Family of victims are being asked to report to the DuPont City Hall to be reunited with their loved ones. They are being told not to come to the scene.

President Trump used the deadly derailment to call for more infrastructure spending in a tweet sent about three hours after the accident. He said the wreck, on a newly completed bypass, shows 'more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly.'

Ten minutes later, he expressed his sympathies for those who were killed.

'My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in the train accident in DuPont, Washington. Thank you to all of our wonderful First Responders who are on the scene. We are currently monitoring here at the White house, he added.

The fatal derailment on Monday could intensify scrutiny of the national passenger railroad company's safety record, which was already under harsh criticism following a series of fatal incidents.

Just last month, the chairman of the NTSB issued a scathing critique of Amtrak's culture, saying a future breakdown was likely, and the board made nine safety recommendations.

'Amtrak's safety culture is failing and is primed to fail again, until and unless Amtrak changes the way it practices safety management,' NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said in a statement on November 14.

Sumwalt's statement was made when the NTSB issued its findings on a fatal Amtrak accident in April 2016 in Pennsylvania, which it said was caused by 'deficient safety management across many levels of Amtrak and the resultant lack of a clear, consistent and accepted vision for safety.'

There was no indication that any of the same issues played a role in the Washington crash.