On December 18 at 7:33 am a high-speed Amtrak train that was heading from Tukwila to Portland Oregon derailed, spilling 13 cars onto the adjacent portion of the I-5 interstate near DuPont.

Survivors of the crash and onlookers have stated that the train was traveling 80 mph through a 30 mph curve. Though the exact cause of the derailment has not been determined, the speed is an undeniable factor. Officials are unsure why the Train was traveling 50 mph over the safe speed limit.

The train’s capacity is around 250 people, for the inaugural run the train had 77 passengers. Of the people on board, 3 people were killed and over a hundred others were injured.

A main point of contention is the lack of secure fail-safes that were available but went unused. The Positive Train System is a set of computers that use GPS on the train to send signals to other computers spaced out along the track that keep track of how fast the train is moving. The speeding train’s computer then receives signal overrides to automatically slow the train down or stop it from having any collisions. While the system was in place and ready to be used, the computer on the train was not turned on, stopping the system from properly working.

Congress has known about this safety system for a long time but has yet to agree to its use. When the time came to vote on its use, the decision got pushed back to 2018. Senator Richard Blumenthal tweeted Monday, the technology “must be implemented immediately.”

The tragedy which occurred in DuPont also peaked the interest of President Trump as he is using the failure of the new train to push forward his Infrastructure plans. He tweeted “The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly.” His plan is to invest more in the infrastructure of America as opposed to foreign affairs.

This accident is the latest in a long line of Amtrak accidents. On April 3, 2016 in Philadelphia, Two maintenance workers were killed by a train moving over 100 mph. Another accident took place March 14, 2016, the train was moving from Los Angeles to Chicago and derailed in southwest Kansas, injuring at least 32 people. With many other incidents occurring over the last few years, the debate has further progressed as more people are calling for the implementation of the Positive Train System.