An Amtrak passenger train derailed and at least one passenger car is dangling on to Interstate 5 in Pierce County, Washington, according to the Washington state Department of Transportation. One train car was beneath the bridge sitting parallel to the roadway, an eyewitness said. Another train car was dangling from a rail bridge that crosses I-5 horizontally.

Amtrak tweeted that it was train No. 501 in its inaugural run, which left Seattle for Portland at 6 a.m., that derailed. According to WSDOT, the train was running down a new bypass created to avoid slow curves and “single track tunnels on the BNSF Railway main line tracks near Point Defiance and along southern Puget Sound.”  This was a new route but it wasn’t new track. It made use of an existing track, which locals said could not sustain high speed.

Fatalities have been reported.

UPDATE: At least 78 passengers and 5 crew members were on the train at the time of the derailment

The president is using the Washington state train derailment to push his infrastructure plan. https://t.co/Rm8uP7qsWx

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 18, 2017

UPDATE #2

• 13 of 14 train cars jumped the tracks

• 5 motor vehicles were struck by the derailed train

• 2 semi trucks also hit

FINAL UPDATE:

3 dead

Train was going 80 mph on a 30 mph bend