Amtrak.. engineer, reportedly ranted about safety: 'I wish the railroads had been more proactive'

NY Daily news ^ | 5/14/15 | BY KELDY ORTIZ , DAREH GREGORIAN

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Brandon Bostian, crashed Amtrak train's engineer, reportedly ranted about safety: 'I wish the railroads had been more proactive'

BY KELDY ORTIZ , DAREH GREGORIAN

The engineer who was behind the controls of an Amtrak train that derailed going around a curve at 100 mph is a lifelong train buff who's written online about the need for better rail safety, it was reported Thursday.

Brandon Bostian, writing on website Trainorders.com, criticized railroads for not installing "positive train control" systems to prevent crashes, the New York Times reported.

"At any point over the previous EIGHTY years the railroad could have voluntarily implemented some form of this technology," Bostian wrote in 2011, according to the Times. "I wish the railroads had been more proactive in adopting active signaling systems from the get-go."

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Is it me or is it a little too coincidental this crash happened right before the transportation and housing bill vote where gee whiz Democraps added the "positive train control" amendment.

[tcrlaf]

Amtrak is already required, by law to add PTC by the end of 2015.
Problem is, when this was ordered in 2011(??), no such technology even existed.

[cripplecreek]

Kinda like the terrorist attack in Texas coming just in time for the patriot act reauthorization.

[Vigilanteman]

Going 106 mph on a 50 mph curve is intentionally crashing the train, in my book. Brandon Bostian sounds like a typical liberal who thinks breaking a few eggs to make an omelet is unavoidable.

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

“positive train control”- a device that is supposed to slow down the train in bad areas. So, what the hell is the Engineer for? Especially this whiny fruity union touting one?

[T-Bone Texan]

I just had a thought:

If culturally we exhibited more parental oversight and supervision over young boys and thus they were molested at a lesser rate, would the percentage of homosexual men then decrease as those non-molested boys reached adulthood?

[grumpygresh]

Amtrak reminds me of Taggart railroad going into that tunnel in Atlas Shrugged.

[Paine in the Neck]

Going 106 mph on a 50 mph curve is intentionally crashing the train, in my book. Brandon Bostian sounds like a typical liberal who thinks breaking a few eggs to make an omelet is unavoidable.

Yep. They wouldn't listen to him so he was gonna show 'em.

[4yearlurker]

No problem. Ed Rendell says just raise the gas tax in Pennsylvania and all we be solved. This whole train wreck episode/investigation is a train wreck. We are being lied to right from the start.

[KC_Lion]

If culturally we exhibited more parental oversight and supervision over young boys and thus they were molested at a lesser rate, would the percentage of homosexual men then decrease as those non-molested boys reached adulthood?

A Most interesting Question!

I wish I had an Answer :(

[greene66]

Hmm, reminds me of all those drama-queen homos who are always defacing their own property or claiming they were attacked, to draw attention to themselves. Invariably turn out to be hoaxes, 99% of the time.

Mental/psychologically unbalanced. Just like Bradley Manning stealing and distributing reams of military secrets, after getting all worked up in a ‘gay snit.’ Wouldn’t surprise me if this train-engineer homo with an obsession about railroad ‘safety’ did this intentionally. I don’t trust any homosexual in such a position of power over others.

[Avid Coug]

I would like to see someone “follow the money” on this one. Who stands to gain a lot of federal taxpayer money if “positive train controls” are purchased and installed?

[alloysteel]

I wish Brandon Bostian had been more proactive as a train engineer. That was clearly BAD judgment on his part, and he shall never be held to account for his negligent actions.

All he had to do, was run the throttle and the brake controls, didn’t even have to steer. And he STILL muffed it up.

[ExNewsExSpook]

All of the “positive train control” systems in the world can’t overcome the laws of physics. Going 106 on a curve rated for 50 mph was a guaranteed disaster. The real question is how many other AMTRAK engineers have been speeding around those curves? Wouldn’t surprise me to discover some sort of informal competition, to see who could make the fastest DC-New York run, and who could take the curve at the highest speed.

I’ve been visiting a few railroad message boards in the wake of this accident; it appears AMTRAK will take applicants off the street—with no previous rail experience—and train them as engineers. In fact, most experienced freight engineers won’t take an AMTRAK job because they lose all seniority when they make the move.

[Norm Lenhart]

The answer you seek is “Yes”.

[NewHampshireDuo]

So why isn’t Google working on a driverless train instead of the car thing? I’d say Google should be mercilessly attacked.

[elcid1970]

Because he’s a faggie, he’ll probably skate.

What a messed up world we live in.

[SeeSharp]

LOL “the railroads”. AMTRAK is the US government.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Reminds me of what the germanwings pilot told people about how easy it would be to take down an airplane. Something tells me this guy did this on purpose nothing would shock me at this point

[TalBlack]

If I drove my car at TWICE the limit and killed people as a result I think I’d be trying to post bond about now. Not clear to me what is going on here.