TRAGEDY

Train Lovers Who Pushed for New High-Speed Route Killed in Amtrak Crash

Two of the victims were members of group that pushed for the new Amtrak route.

Two of the passengers killed in Monday’s fatal Amtrak derailment in Washington state were train enthusiasts and members of a group called All Aboard Washington, which lobbied for the new Amtrak rail route. In total, three people died after Train 501, which was speeding at 80 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone, when it entered an S-curve along the newly completed route and derailed. Dozens of the 80 passengers on board were injured. The train was on its first ever revenue ride on that route. Lloyd Flem, executive director of All Aboard Washington, described the organization as both “shaken” and “busy” in the aftermath of the crash.