Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is vowing to make passenger rail service safer. The Democrat made his comments Tuesday at the scene of Monday’s derailment of an Amtrak Cascades train in Pierce County.
“Given the nature of this tragedy, given the extent of loss, I feel we will succeed in improving rail transit coming out of this,” Inslee said.
Inslee said he’s talked to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and been briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board. Three passengers were killed and dozens injured when the Amtrak train left the rails at high speed and crashed onto Interstate 5.
The derailment happened on the inaugural run of new, faster Amtrak service between Seattle and Portland.
