Amtrak resumes service on Point Defiance Bypass for first time since 2017 derailment

An Amtrak train conductor prepares to signal the engineer prior to departing. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
Robert Alexander/Getty Images

An investigator takes photos off a railroad bridge at the scene of where an Amtrak train derailed above Interstate 5, Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off the overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing several people, authorities said. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Elaine Thompson/AP

The engine from an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5 on Monday, is checked by workers before being transported away from the scene, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. Federal investigators in the deadly train wreck want to know whether the engineer was distracted by a second person in his cab as his train hurtled into a curve at more than twice the speed limit. The train took a 30 mph curve at 80 mph and plunged off an overpass, sending rail cars plummeting onto a busy highway south of Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Elaine Thompson/AP

Vehicles fill the highway at the scene of an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5 from the railroad bridge above two days earlier Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train that careened off the overpass south of Seattle, killing at least three people, was hurtling 50 mph over the speed limit when it jumped the track, federal investigators say, when it derailed along a curve, spilling railcars onto the highway below. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Elaine Thompson/AP

With new safety improvements in place, Amtrak Cascade resumed service on the Point Defiance Bypass Thursday for the first time since the dramatic derailment in 2017 that killed three people and left dozens wounded.

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Signal testing on the bypass began earlier in January for an eventual resumption on service. A total of eight trains on the Cascades and Coast Starlight, which resumed normal service levels in May, will use the bypass daily. Cascades trains will also now use the Tacoma Dome Station at 422 E 25th St.

"We are ready to safely resume service on the Bypass consistent with the steps required by our host railroad, Sound Transit, the Federal Railroad Administration and our own Safety Management System," said Amtrak President Stephen Gardner in a news release.

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The deadly derailment occurred during the inaugural run on the route — which took passenger trains inland between Tacoma and Olympia instead of along the waterfront to reduce travel time — between Seattle and Portland in December 2017. Thirteen cars jumped the tracks while approaching the railroad bridge in DuPont. A total of 65 people were injured, including people trapped in cars below the overpass.

A review from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the final recorded speed from the train before it crashed at the highway overpass was 78 mph. The overpass and downhill curve were part of a 30 mph stretch of tracks, meaning the train hit the curve at more than double the speed posted.

Following the derailment, new safety measures have been added including a positive train control (PTC) system which was "designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into established work zones, and movements of trains through switches left in the wrong position," according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The technology can automatically slow or even stop a train is it exceeds certain speed limits.

That system was not activated at the time of the 2017 derailment, a point of contention in following lawsuits from engineers at the controls who say they were improperly trained by Amtrak. PTC technology is now required on all passenger rail corridors in Washington.

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"Sound Transit has verified the proper functioning of PTC equipment on its tracks and on Amtrak trains that will use the tracks," wrote the agency in a statement Thursday.

Other requirements imposed by Sound Transit included new simulation training for all operators and gradual speed reductions. On the curve where the derailment occurred, trains must slow down from 79 mph to 50 mph to 30 mph.