I couldn't agree with you more, Nudge. They probably meant he should have been going zero miles per hour prior to the derail. Apparently, the bridge tender jumped off the bridge and fell into the water.

A further update:

About 100 yards before the Chambers Bay bridge, the northbound passenger train passed a final signal that, when red, tells the engineer to stop because the drawbridge is being raised or lowered. The train then moved through a derail device that knocked it off the rails before reaching the bridge, Amtrak said.

“The derail is there to keep trains from proceeding when the bridge is in the ‘up’ position,” said Mike Elliott, Washington state government affairs director and spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

Based on pictures, Elliott figures the train probably slowed to 10 or 20 mph by the time the derail device pushed it into the gravel alongside the tracks.

Graham declined to answer questions about the accident beyond what was in her statement.

Six railroad vehicles — the locomotive, baggage car and four passenger cars — went fully or slightly off the rails. Another eight passenger cars stayed upright, Graham’s statement said. Initial witness accounts said only four rail vehicles derailed.

Signals are 1˝ to 2 miles apart. On most modern tracks, if a drawbridge is not locked in place an engineer would likely see a flashing yellow light, followed by a solid yellow light, and be decelerating before approaching the red stop signal a couple minutes later, Elliott said.