Page 4
December 20, 2017
Terence Keller Going Too Fast
A full Service Realtor
• List & Sell your House
• Find your New Home
• Help you Invest
• Find you the Best Loan
• Help with Pre-Sale Prep
• Hold Open House to sell your home
Portland is my Town
Call Terence Keller
503 839-6126
Liberty Group Realtors Inc.
terencekellersr@gmail.com • Oregon License 200306037
Advertise with diversity in
The Portland Observer - Call 503-288-0033
or email ads@portlandobserver.com
C ontinued froM f ront
years to install such technology,
but the deadline has been extend-
ed repeatedly at the industry’s re-
quest and is now the end of 2018.
The 7:34 a.m. accident left
mangled train cars up on top of
each other, with one hanging pre-
cariously over the freeway. The
screech and clang of metal were
followed by silence, then screams,
as the injured cried out to rescu-
ers and motorists pulled over and
rushed to help.
More than 70 people were
injured, 10 of them seriously. A
Portland surgeon on his way to a
shopping trip in Seattle stopped
to aid victims at the scene of
the derailment. Dr. Nate Selden,
chair of neurological surgery at
Oregon Health and Sciences Uni-
versity, said he and his son were
two of hundreds trying to help
survivors.
He assisted emergency medical
professionals to apply first aid and
assess the status of each victim.
Train passenger Emma Shafer
found herself at a 45-degree angle,
staring at the seats in front of her
that had come loose and swung
around.
“It felt oddly silent after the
actual crashing,” she said. “Then
there was people screaming be-
cause their leg was messed up. ... I
don’t know if I actually heard the
sirens, but they were there. A guy
was like, ‘Hey, I’m Robert. We’ll
get you out of here.’”
One of the dead was identified
as Zack Willhoite, a customer ser-
vice employee at a local transit
agency and a railroad buff excited
to be on the first passenger run of
the new route.
He was a member of All Aboard
Washington, an organization of
rail advocates.
In 2015, an Amtrak train trav-
eling at twice the 50 mph speed
limit ran off the rails along a sharp
curve in Philadelphia, killing eight
people. Investigators concluded
the engineer was distracted by
reports over the radio of another
train getting hit by a rock.
In the Washington state crash,
speed signs were posted two miles
before the speed zone changed,
according to Kimberly Reason
of Sound Transit, the Seattle-ar-
ea transit agency that owns the
tracks.
Eric Corp, a councilman for the
small town of DuPont near the de-
railment site, said he rode the train
with about 30 or so dignitaries and
others on a special trip Friday be-
fore the service opened to the pub-
lic Monday.
“Once we were coming up on
that curve, the train slowed down
considerably,” he said.
The Amtrak Cascades service
that runs from Vancouver, B.C.
to Eugene is jointly owned by the
Washington and Oregon transpor-
tation departments. Amtrak oper-
ates the service for the two states
as a contractor and is responsible
for day-to-day operations.
The Amtrak schedule called for
the train to leave Seattle around 6
a.m. and arrive in Portland about 3
1/2 hours later.
--Associated Press contributed
to this article.
to publish a court document or no-
L e g a L N o t i c e s Need
tice? Need an affidavit of publication quick-
ly and efficiently? Please fax or e-mail your
notice for a free price quote!
Fax: 503-288-0015
e-mail: classifieds@portlandobserver.com
The Portland Observer