I wonder why these locomotives derailed here, of all places?

[parkrrrr]

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/bnsf-train-derails-on-swinomish-reservation-in-anacortes-area/

I'm sure that when BNSF says they're investigating, they mean they're investigating why that derail did its job when it wasn't supposed to, right?

[Chris333]

Yeah why didn't it just run off the end of the bridge into the water? strange.

[parkrrrr]

I would hope that the bridge wasn't open at the time. That'd be a whole 'nother level of screwup.

It's not a very busy line - the refinery is the only rail-served industry on the island - so I'm not sure whether all of those systems are completely automated. It's possible that someone closed the bridge and forgot to reset the derails, or that it was the train crew's responsibility to do that and it got lost in the shuffle somewhere. Or maybe it is automated and a sensor failed, or any number of other possible explanations.

(Note: the map on the Times article is outdated. The bridge west of March Point is a rail trail now.)

[nkalanaga]

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Reference #18.1b2b3417.1679122434.5ac345be

[learmoia]

There are two oil refineries out on that spur and Anti-Oil crowd regularly protests up there..

~Ian

[Curtis Kyger]

How do the protestors get there? On foot? On horseback?

[signalmaintainer]

The short answer is the bridge operator lined the swing bridge for train movement, but neglected to remove the derails. Train crew wasn't watching out, and the derail worked as intended.