Page 4 - Train 501 News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The service from seattle to portland have never left this early. they left at 6:00 a.m. we were on that train. among the people on board we're a number of rail enthusists and people very interested in being part of what they -- what would be historic ride. >> when you were on the train, were the cars filled and what was the experience of the train. was it a smooth ride. tell us what you can recall. >> reporter: there were several stops along the way. every stop picked up a number of people. there were dozens of people on board the train. it was a smooth ride for the portion we took, a 45 minut...

Amtrak had a ribbon cutting ceremony for this new station in tacoma and touted the new parts and the upgrades to the track and signals in that area. that ribbon cutting just took place on friday and this, as we understand it, was the inaugural run of a train along that new route. so all of those things potentially very significant in what looks like a very bad crash right now. you can see very clearly one of the carriages hanging off the overpass. it is closed down at the moment. we've seen another picture closer up and that appears to show another one of the train cars completely shattered an...

Scene. we just arrived. they are having us move down. we're going to try and walk and talk as best we can. we are on the move but right now i can tell you that we are overlooking the scene where this train derailment took place and i have with me now one person who lives nearby. laura. you've lived in the area. tell me what did you hear this morning when this all took place? >> i just woke up and heard a bunch of sirens and noise. it was very, very scary. i'm so glad i was off work today. just looking at this whole mess around christmas breaks my heart. >> i want to have our photo journalist s...

Allows for automatic braking should there will any sort of train to train collision possible or excessive speed or misaligned track. all of that is supposed to have been avoided with positive train control. it's going to be a high priority for everybody involved. >> was this upgrading of old track and what kind of equipment? they don't go as fast as they could go. you know better than anyone because the track is so old. how new is this track and how new is the equipment. is it canadian made. >> to be honest, i don't have

About the number of injuries resulting from this derailment. they did put out this statement. amtrak is aware of an incident with train 501 cascade service from seattle to portland. emergency services are on the scene and amtrak management is responding. some injuries are reported. the pierce county sheriff's office now says injuries and even casualties are reported. so that is an update over the last couple of minutes. numbers to come on that. john hyatt is a railroad investigator and he joins us on the phone from seattle. john, you know, you have to think that somehow amtrak operating on thi...