Amtrak train derails from bridge onto Interstate 5 near Olympia, WA

Accident site: just west of the Mounts Rd, Old Nisqually exit on southbound I-5 [1] and streetview [2].

Some additional facts, without speculating about cause: the derailment occurred in a left-hand curve -- running timetable southbound, map westbound -- with the latter portion of the curve situated on a bridge above the southbound lanes of I-5. The curve is at the end of a nearly 9-mile stretch of (freshly upgraded) track with long straightaways and gentle curves. The upgraded section of track ends just around 150 yards from this curve.

In the aerial footage of the scene, you can see the lead car and the carriages following it flew off, tangent to the curve. The middle of the train bunched up on the bridge, and the rear half of the train fell inward into the curve.

[1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/47%C2%B004'55.2%22N+122%C2... [2] https://www.google.com/maps/@47.082065,-122.6750448,3a,60y,2...

Wow, major disaster. This was the first day they were running a new route, slightly higher speed Amtrak between Seattle to Portland. You just don't see accidents like this very often, multiple train cars left the track, fell onto the freeway - US I5, with multiple fatalities.

government owned, no responsibility. Shocking. Why can't inspiration be taken from Europe with all its implementations for transit efficiencies and learnings about doing intercity connections well.