But I'd expect the engine to have flipped over from the centrifugal force.
I do not see that in the pictures.
Look like it just went straight...
A full-weight engine doing 80 where it should be 30 could push right thru the track. That track is built mostly to hold the train from going _down_, not so much to force it to turn left. You’re looking at a horizontal force about 3x the expected load.
Yeah, maybe the track was weakened or obstructed at that point deliberately. Maybe it’s a freak coincidence that the train was going too fast as well (multiple unrelated causes sometimes, rarely, happen at once).
I’m of the Occam’s Razor persuasion: the simple explanation is usually right. If the train data recorder says it was doing 80 in a 30 turn, that’s the most likely reason it derailed.
I’m unpersuaded by small misunderstandings within the subsequent wreckage being indication of grand vicious conspiracies playing out when pretty much the same results would occur _without_ conspiracy.
The lead engine is resting down on the highway.