By David Anderson, Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Association, president
Now that yet another death has occurred by train along Amtrak’s waterfront route, it is fair – again – to raise the question as to the wisdom of moving these trains to the life-congested tracks of Lakewood.
Let alone do so without grade separations.
Last evening an Amtrak Cascades passenger train hit a pickup truck, killing the driver. The accident occurred along the Puget Sound waterfront route as the train headed for Portland from Seattle with 153 passengers on board. The train remained at the site with no estimate at the time as to when the investigation would be completed allowing the train to proceed. (Update: a person stating that they were a passenger on that train reports in a comment to the article linked here that the train remained at the scene of the accident for five hours.)
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has recently released its accident analysis as part of its Environmental Assessment (EA) concluding that safety improvements known as grade separations – raising or lowering the track separating train travel from roadway traffic – are unnecessary for its proposed Point Defiance Bypass Project.
WSDOT contends that the likelihood of the half-dozen or more trains- that are planned to be rerouted from the Puget Sound shoreline through Lakewood’s busy intersections with even more trains likely in the future at 79 mph several times per day seven days per week – hitting cars, trucks, buses, emergency vehicles, kids on bicycles, mothers pushing strollers, elderly on walkers, is predicted to be very rare, a rather remarkable finding given one independent analysis that questions WSDOT’s forecast of grade crossing crashes as unrelated – at best remote – to the number of trains passing through.
Given recent accident records – just for the current route along the waterfront not including the grim statistics of 2005 when nine train deaths occurred in Pierce County alone as reported by Mike Archbold in the Tacoma News Tribune October 26, 2008 – the Lakewood public deserves a thorough explanation as to why WSDOT sees little correlation between trains going very fast through busy intersections at increased speeds multiple times per day . . . and accidents being something other than very rare.
“On August 8, 2010, an 18-year-old woman was killed and her male companion injured when they were struck by a southbound Amtrak train near Titlow Beach” (TNT).
On March 26, 2010, “Two people were injured after their car hit a cargo train at a Lakewood railroad crossing” (TNT).
On March 23, 2010 a 20-year-old woman was killed by an Amtrak train at Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom (TNT).
On October 26, 2008 a woman using a walker was struck and killed by a train as she tried to cross to Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom, as reported by Mike Archbold in the Tacoma News Tribune.
And now a truck driver is dead, the victim of a run-in with a passenger train.
So let’s move that train from an inarguably more remote section of track – in multiplied numbers at increased speeds in increased times per day – to neighborhoods where residents “ never banked on heavy rail traffic” and say it won’t happen here?
At least not very often?
Were it not for financial and political capital driving this train – as opposed to common sense and practicality, not to mention safety – this bypass operation wouldn’t be necessary.
As abundantly documented at www.CommunityMattersWeb.com far more than the cold steel of the tracks and the underlying dirt in this project needs substantiation.
WSDOT has scheduled an open house and public hearing later this month on this project.
Pictured are the train tracks through Tillicum, part of WSDOT’s proposed route, as photographed by Christina Noel Klas.
The investigation of this accident is not yet complete so it is not appropriate to cite this incident in any arguments. If this turns out to be a truck that stalled on the tracks, that leads us to a different conclusion about rail traffic in Tacoma than if this was a suicide. Please refrain from citing incidents until the investigations are complete.
The driver who was killed was on JBLM land, not Puget Sound waterfront (check your facts before you try to incite fear in Tillicum residents please). These accidents can happen anywhere, it’s a fact of life. Moving or not moving the trains will not change anything, drivers need to become more aware of their surroundings, stop texting, eating, putting on makeup, etc…only then will accidents decrease.
What happened to common sense when crossing a railroad crossing? I learned at a very young age about looking both ways and obeying crossing signals before crossing rail road tacks. Tho I don’t like the new route for trains, common sense and human error must be entered into the equation as well. The idea of a 79MPH derailment hasn’t even been considered, given the number of derailments reported on the previous route. When there is a problem on the tracks, accident or derailment,we can just imagine the traffic snarl that will result in Lakewood for hours.
The fear-mongerers just won’t let it alone. There is rarely an excuse for being killed by a train other other than a. stupidity, b. being suicidal, c. ignorance of the obvious, or d. (maybe) impairment. And, to state the obvious, you have a far greater chance of being killed in a street traffic accident than you do by a train. Iwould opine that all of the cases you presented fell into a-d.
So, what’s the real reason behind all this “gas” about trains…?
Mr. Anderson,
I agree with you that it is a sad tragedy when someone is injured or killed in train collision.
Two observations.
#1. After years of reading what you have to say about public projects, it appears you are consistantly against projects designed for public good.
#2. Rather than disrupting the train project, simply remind citizens to stop violating traffic & criminal trespass laws. Normally trains do not kill & injure. In most cases it is the pedestrians & drivers who are at fault for failing to comply with already well established laws & rules of common sense.
We all know trains have been around longer than automobiles.
We all know trains are bigger thsan automobiles
We we know for a fact the train had the right of way.
We alll know it takes more than a mile to stop even a slow moving train.
We all know for a fact that if any thing gets hit by a moving train it is goin to suffer some serious damage
We all know for a fact the trains cross thousands of roads and streets
We all know for a fact that all railroad crossings have warning lights at the least.
What we do not know for a fact is how some one can miss not hitting a train
What we all don’t know is who forgot to tell the driver.
Suicide by train is the only logical answer
For all the naysayers on train accidents, while at the same time advocating for high speed rail, please support your position with evidence – not generalizations – that shows how moving passenger trains through the life-congested neighborhoods where they are proposed is in the public interest?
Memo to lead naysayer,
Evidence is not needed. Let me make this more simple for you. Direct your congested citizens to stay off the train tracks, unless they have a legal right to be there.
While it may be a generalization, it does not matter how many trains, nor the speed of the trains if you are not illegally on the tracks, the train can’t get you. If you are illegally on the tracks, be prepared to face dire consequences.
I’m afraid Tom Silva could be right about this. Down at Solo Point, at JBLM, this was identified as a soldier and this might have been another suicide, I’m very sorry to say.
Mr Anderson seems to have an issue with trains. I have lived here in
Tacoma and University Place for sixty one years. The route that Amtrack wants to take is seldom used. Only freight trains used these
tracks at all. When the railroads in the northwest merged, there were less freight trains using this rail line. Now the only freight train
that uses this is Tacoma Rail. Maybe once or twice a week.
Now that Sounder trains are using the rails in the morning and evening
there is more train traffic for about one hour a day. Thats using five trains both ways. So I have not seen any trains accidents on thesetracks.
Now with Amtrack wanting to use this rail line spur. I figure about
two hours a day, passenger trains will be coming thru, using six trains a day round trip. I don’t see any one getting hurt or killed right now. I do see people walking down the tracks now and cars stopping on the tracks when the traffic signal lights turn red. Citizens need to understand what trains do. When Soundtransit began rebuilding this spur, they ungraded the crossings just as Amtrack will do with the rest of the crossings. I think Mr Anderson is over reacting to this. The word is called change.
Risk deaths for 6 minutes? Why change a rail route that’s been used for 80+ years. HSR? What a LIBERAL social engineering JackAss JOKE. Same speeds as steam engine era 100 years ago. Shanghai PRC has REAL HSR….MAGLEV.
Mr. Anderson, I am we’ll aware that you work tirelessly for community issues you deem important to your neighborhood. Might you consider harnising your intellect, energy, time & money to support the best train safety education program in the USA? You could become a positive force in helping citizens make positive choices that will keep them out of harms way.
To help us all along here in our mutual homework assignment, consider the following:
Train tourists wave while working poor wait
WSDOT admits that “over 80% of Cascades trips are leisure-based,” according to page two of a November 14, 2008 letter by Lakewood’s Assistant City Manager Dave Bugher addressed to George Xu, Planning and Strategic Assessment Manager for WSDOT State Rail and Marine Office in Olympia. Bugher, in quoting from WSDOT’s own “Washington State Amtrak Cascades Mid-Range Plan,” concludes that “the plan” is not in fact founded upon the “demand for Amtrak Cascades service” but rather “appears strongly tied to marketing.”
In its promotional material WSDOT says the plan is to improve service reliability. But on page 153 of Camp Murray’s 2011 Environmental Assessment in which the Washington National Guard is addressing its own transportation issues, Amtrak officials admitted that “the project (Bypass) will reroute passenger rail traffic service, which will result in some improvement in service but is primarily intended to allow an increase in the number of trains per day.”
This then begs the question. If Amtrak is not about service improvement primarily, but rather more about more trains, why?
The answer should become obvious from the following.
“In participating in WSDOT meetings,” Bugher wrote – pages 20 and 21 of a document entitled Written Direct Testimony of David Bugher in a report before the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, Exhibit No. Docket No. TR-100127, dated May 5, 2010 – “city staff observed that organic demand for the Amtrak Cascades route does not exist so much as that generated by heavy WSDOT investment in promotion, which has included a clear intent to siphon travelers specifically from Horizon Air. To the best of our knowledge,” Bugher testified, WSDOT has never engaged in any outreach about this particular aspect to the City of SeaTac, Port of Seattle, or Alaska/Horizon itself.” Bugher further observed, on pages 10 and 20 after reviewing Horizon’s 2009 annual report, “Horizon could be harmed by reduced demand and/or increased competition in its key markets, which include Seattle and Portland. Portland-to-Seattle is one of its leading nonstop routes.”
As a matter of fact, in the aforementioned letter to George Xu, Bugher references WSDOT’s “Washington State Amtrak Cascades Mid-Range Plan”, from Chapter 9, p.9-1, charging WSDOT as “intentionally positioning Amtrak Cascades as the preferred method of (both intercity and business) travel.”
To WSDOT’s contention that “of every $1 billion invested in rail, an estimated 20,000 new jobs would be created curbing global warming and supporting cleaner energy,” Bugher responds to this and several other claims, calling them “superficial (and) outrageous” since “no supporting data or evidence (is) included to offer a logical foundation for the argument.”
And finally, pages 2-3, Bugher notes regarding Amtrak’s Oregon destination that the “outbound routes, particularly to Oregon where there is notably no sales tax, represent retail and tax leakage for Washington businesses. In this sense service is not a boon but provides competition with economic development in Washington State.”
With regards WSDOT’s plan to thrust high-speed rail through existing neighborhoods, there’s what’s said, and there’s what isn’t said.
What’s said is that there’ll be $2 million in revenue for Lakewood. What isn’t said is that $1 million will literally be poured into the ground in the replacement of water pipes.
What’s said is that the feds have made a lot of money available for this program. The fine print however concerns the $50-80 million of state-borne maintenance costs over 20 years – money not available for other needed projects and services requiring additional taxes.
What’s said is that 80% of Amtrak riders are tourists. What isn’t explained then is how need is substantiated.
What’s promoted is service reliability. What Amtrak really wants is more trains. And the reason for more trains? Market domination.
BTW….Do any of the High Speed Rail loons believe rider fares actually PAY for the sounder or ANY US pass. train??? BTW Deux, Does anybody know how much the fare would be to ACTUALLY PAY for the liberal social engineering debacle? Maybe we could put Solyndra solar panels on the train to run it?
It would appear that Tillicum/Lakewood/Pierce County residents are just plain to stupid to know enough to stay off the tracks. Anyone on the tracks for more than a quick crossing when the way is clear gets what they deserve, and if that is a funeral so be it.
Does R Lopaka actually believe the streets and highways he drives on are not subsidized??? Does he think his little gas-guzzler doesn’t need a lot of public money to get from A to B?? BUT, help is on the way…as soon as Mitt gets in we’ll all be on our way back to the 19th C., where some of his robber-baron pals will be cleaning up in the (gasp) train business…
Guess some think $88 MILLION per year Amtrak food&beverage LOSS/SUBSIDY is GREAT. AMTRAK charging $9 for a hamburger that costa $16. Liberal biz at it’s BEST. Some hope ALL of the USA runs this Obama way.Do you know the ACTUAL COST vs the fare charged? Ironic that the 3% that use rail to commute must be SUBSIDIZED by the 97% that can’t. I’m from the Gov and I’m here to take care of you. Julia. http://minx.cc/?blog=86&post=331597