Cars from an Amtrak train that derailed above lie spilled onto Interstate 5 alongside smashed vehicles. PHoto / AP
Cars from an Amtrak train that derailed above lie spilled onto Interstate 5 alongside smashed vehicles. PHoto / AP
Passengers have revealed the terror they felt as the Amtrack train derailed near Seattle, killing at least three passengers and injuring more than 100.
A train was travelling 80km/h over the speed limit when it derailed from an overpass south of Seattle and crashed onto the freeway below.
Charlie and Beverly Heebener, 79 and 78 respectively, were both excited to be on board given it was the maiden ride for the Portland-to-Seattle service, according to news.com.au.
First responders work at the scene of an Amtrak train that derailed in DuPont, south of Seattle. Photo / AP
Their excitement soon turned to horror. A sudden jolt and shattered glass brought the train to a halt.
Beverly Heebener saw a body lying inert as she and her husband crawled out of their mangled train car.
"I mean he hardly had any clothes on; the clothes had just been ripped off of him," she said. "And he was obviously dead."
Charlie Heebener added: "I think, man, we were lucky to be getting out of here alive. Then I decided we're just fortunate, not lucky. I don't think luck had anything to do with it."
Another passenger, Emma Shafer, 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," she told AP.
"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'."
Two damaged train cars sit on flatbed trailers after being taken from the scene of an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5 a day earlier. Photo / AP
Anthony Raimondi said he was on business class when the car "started to lean".
"Then all of the sudden everything went dark, and stuff started flying around inside the car" before the train came to a stop, he told CNN's New Day on Tuesday.
"[We] picked ourselves [up] and shook ourselves off, and one of the passengers pushed out the window," he said.
Raimondi helped someone else out of the train after he climbed out of the window.
He said he feels "very lucky" that he came out with only a few bruises.
Bella Dinh-Zarr, of the National Transportation Safety Board, confirmed on Monday night that the train was hurtling at 128km/h in a 48km/h zone when it spilled off the tracks Monday morning, according to a data recorder in the rear locomotive.
However, Dinh-Zarr said was "too early to tell" exactly why the train derailed and why it was moving so fast.
Work at the scene of an Amtrak train that derailed in DuPont, south of Seattle. Photo / AP
Investigators have also discovered that the train's Positive Train Control — which automatically slows down a speeding train — was installed but not activated at the time of the derailment.
Authorities said there were 80 passengers and five crew members on board when it derailed and pulled 13 cars off the tracks.
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.
Dispatch audio also indicated that the train driver survived with bleeding from the head and both eyes swollen shut. The driver is yet to be interviewed.
Cars from an Amtrak train that derailed above lie spilled onto Interstate 5, in Washington. Photo / AP
The train was making its first run on the new route as part of a US$180.7 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that is bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.
The new bypass was built on an existing inland rail line that runs along Interstate 5 from Tacoma to DuPont.
First victims identified
The first victims of the Amtrak train tragedy have been identified as a local transit employee Zack Willhoite, 35, and his friend Jim Hamre.
The first victims of the crash have since been identified as local transit employee Zack Willhoite (left in an undated photo) and his friend Jim Hamre (right). Photos / Facebook
The third victim has not yet been identified.
Friends of the two victims say they had just wanted to be among the first on the train's maiden journey, according to the Daily Mail.
Willhoite, 35, had worked at the Washington-based Pierce Transit sine 2008. Hamre previously worked for the Washington State Department of Transportation and was involved in the Washington Association of Railroad Passengers.
"It's heartbreaking to hear that @PierceTransit employee and rail aficionado Zack Willhoite did not survive the derailment," chair of the transit company's advisory board Chris Karnes tweeted on Tuesday.
"He helped our advisory committee with IT issues, and behind the scenes he was a writer and advocate for better transit for all. He will be missed."
It's heartbreaking to hear that @PierceTransit employee and rail aficionado Zack Willhoite did not survive the derailment. He helped our advisory committee with IT issues, and behind the scenes he was a writer and advocate for better transit for all. He will be missed.
A friend paid tribute to both men on Hamre's Facebook page, saying: "As we all knew they would be, Jim and his great friend Zach Wilhoite were on Amtrak Train 501 on the first run over the new route and they were, unbelievably, two of the three killed in the horrible derailment of that train."
