Inslee says Amtrak will pay derailment costs, medical expenses of victims

DUPONT, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Jay Inslee says that Amtrak President Richard Anderson told him the rail company will pay the costs associated with a deadly train derailment as well as the medical and other expenses of the victims.

He also said Anderson would try to ensure a technology can automatically slow or stop a speeding train — known as positive train control — will be in place statewide before a Dec. 31, 2018 federal deadline.

That technology was not in use on the stretch of track involved in Monday's crash. Regulators have been pressing railroads for years to install such technology, and some have done so, but the deadline has been extended repeatedly at the industry's request.

The train derailment Monday killed three people and spilled cars onto a busy interstate freeway south of Seattle.