By Railfan & Railroad Staff

SEATTLE — Amtrak has settled a lawsuit with the engineer at the controls of Cascades train 501 that derailed south of Seattle in December 2017, killing three people and injuring scores of others.

Amtrak 501 was the first revenue train to use the then-newly constructed Point Defiance Bypass, which was meant to shorten the route between Portland and Seattle. But the inaugural run turned tragic when the train derailed on a curve over Interstate 5 near DuPont, Wash., because the train was going too fast. Positive Train Control was not in use at the time. A number of lawsuits emerged from the incident, but one between Amtrak and the engineer, Steven Brown, was among the most closely watched. Brown’s attorneys alleged that Amtrak had not properly trained their client and other crews. 

The Seattle Times reports that the sum of the settlement was not announced but a lawyer said it was enough to make up for Brown’s lost wages after he couldn’t work for the railroad any longer. Perhaps more importantly, it cleared Brown’s name. 

“We think that it substantiates that it is Amtrak’s fault and not Mr. Brown’s,” attorney Fred Bremseth told the newspaper. 

Four years after the wreck, passenger trains returned to the Point Defiance Bypass once Positive Train Control had been installed.