Official Blasts Complacency Before Fatal 2017 Train Crash

SEATTLE (AP) – The National Transportation Safety Board has published its final report on a deadly Amtrak derailment in Washington state in 2017, with the agency’s vice chairman blasting what he described as a “Titanic-like complacency” among those charged with ensuring train operations were safe.

The train was on its first paid passenger run on a new route from Tacoma to Portland, Oregon, when it plunged onto Interstate 5, killing three people and injuring dozens. In findings released last month, the NTSB said the engineer lost track of where he was and failed to slow down before a curve.

In comments published with the final report Monday, agency Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said the derailment was “anything but unforeseeable.” He noted that the NTSB “has been investigating overspeed derailments around curves for decades.”