Speed control technology 'could have prevented fatal Amtrak crash'

Speed control technology which could have prevented a fatal train derailment near Seattle has not yet been completed on the network, authorities have said.

Work to install the GPS-based system, known as 'positive train control' (PTC), is not expected to be finished until next Spring on the newly opened 15-mile route where an Amtrak train came off the tracks on December 18.

Three people were killed and dozens injured when the train derailed and dropped onto a busy interstate road in Washington state on the west coast.

Sound Transit, the public body which owns the line, said the rest of the project was "under a very aggressive schedule".

Documents posted on their website said the $180.7 million (£135 million) funded project is required to be completed by June 30.

The terms and conditions state that even a one-month delay would "significantly impact the project".

Investigators said the Amtrak train was travelling at 80mph in a 30mph zone when it came off the tracks at a bridge.

Federal investigators are looking into whether the engineer was distracted.

A positive train control (PTC) system could have detected the speeding and automatically applied the brakes to stop the train, said Najmedin Meshkati, a University of Southern California professor who has studied the technology for three decades.

"It is another layer of safety," he said.

Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that "no-one wants PTC more than me," but would not directly answer questions about why it is taking so long to get the speed-control technology up and running across the board.

"I'm a huge believer in positive train control," he said at a news conference."It just makes so much scientific sense."

Mr Anderson said the company's safety culture can continue to improve and said the crash should be seen as a "wake-up call".

He added: "It's not acceptable that we're involved in these types of accidents."

US rail is under government orders to install PTC by the end of 2018 after the industry lobbied US Congress to extend earlier deadlines, citing complexity and cost.

Union Pacific, the nation's largest freight carrier, said it was spending about $2.9 billion (£2.1 billion) on the technology.

Industry groups estimate rail firms will spend about $10 billion (£7.4 billion) to install and implement the systems.

The Amtrak crash is the latest example of a deadly crash that experts say could have been prevented if the speed control technology were in place.

Investigators claim a lack of such systems as a contributing factor in at least 25 crashes over the last 20 years, including two in the last four years where a train approached sharp curves at more than double the speed limit.

In 2015, an Amtrak train crashed in Philadelphia killing eight people, when investigators say the engineer was distracted by radio traffic and lost his bearings.

And in 2013, a Metro-North train crashed in New York City killing four people, when an engineer with sleep apnoea dozed off.