Trains News Wire quoted a Seattle Times article that said excessive speed and human error was the cause. The engineer failed to slow adequately and hit the derail at about 20 mph. The only injury was the bridge operator who jumped off the bridge onto the embankment and fell into the water.
That is more of a Stop Signal violation than it is 'excessive speed'. When the signal say maximum speed is ZERO until the signal changes - you ran the Stop Signal.
Looks like the four Talgo Series 6 trainsets in Cascades use will be permanently removed from service "as soon as possible" per NTSB recommendation because of safety concerns regarding passenger protection in the wreck. https://www.railwayage.com/safety/wsdot-to-retire-talgo-trainsets/
Wow, those trainsets have had a solid performance ever since being introduced. Ridden them many times, and always felt safe in them, even at 79mph. A friend of mine worked on them for about 5 years and has mentioned the reliability and lack of problems with them, usually something minor. As long as the error in the human element is always there, no trainset will be 100% safe. They should invest the money into PTC, the accidents will be reduced.
I agree Kurt. "Solutions" in this era often seem to divert attention from the actual problem. Kind of like Amtrak's 2005 fatal overspeed crash at Frankford Junction near Philadelphia caused by a "distracted" engineer, when the actual cause was rock throwing vandals.
The Talgo's in the Dupont accident appeared to have all the passenger protection of an empty Coca-Cola aluminum can - ie. not much. If accidents didn't happen the railroads might still be operating wooden passenger cars. As long as man moves, there is the potential for accident - the higher the speed the higher potential for injury and damage. The carriers have invested BILLIONS in the UNFUNDED MANDATE of creating a new product that is now known as PTC. The implementation of PTC has already caused one tragic incident, Cayce, SC. There is no free lunch.