NTSB hearings on DuPont train derailment begin Tuesday

The National Transportation Safety Board will hold hearings this week on last year's deadly crash of an Amtrak train in DuPont, Washington

Before high-speed rail returns to the Point Defiance bypass, people like Kecia Magnus who live nearby want some answers.

The NTSB wants answers as well, and on Tuesday, the NTSB will begin two days of investigative hearings to help determine what went wrong.

The high-speed Amtrak train was moving at nearly 80 mph when it entered a curve where the speed is limited to 30 mph.

The engine flew off the tracks onto Interstate 5, taking several passenger cars with it.

Three people died and nearly 100 more were injured.

Magnus lives close to the tracks and says a similar high-speed crash there could have a big impact on her and her neighbors.

More on derailment from KIRO 7 

• What to know: Q&A after train derails over I-5, killing 3
• VIDEO: Best friends who loved trains killed in derailment
• LIVE VIDEO: Train derails onto I-5
• PHOTOS: Massive locomotive moved after train derailment

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“Like how would it affect our small neighborhood and the people who are immediately attached to the rails?” said Magnus.

While no cause has been officially determined, speed was a factor, according to preliminary NTSB reports.

Another factor was the lack of positive train control -- a GPS based computer system that could have slowed the train automatically before it entered the curve.

That system is now being tested and Amtrak says trains won't run until PTC is ready.

“Well, we’ve been given the deadline to have it in place by the end of this year but the federal government and we’ll meet that deadline,” said Scott Thompson with Sound Transit.

KIRO 7 South Sound reporter Kevin McCarty is traveling to Washington, DC for the hearings to show us what investigators will be looking for.

Cox Media Group