Posted on 12/19/2017 8:48:02 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
Edited on 12/19/2017 11:06:00 PM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
The rush to launch service on a new, faster Amtrak route near Seattle came at a deadly cost
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Really, Amtrak should have been "woke" about fifty or so years ago. They're a railway company after all.
Look to the union protection of its workers vs automated systems ...
"...Positive Train Control (PTC) technology..."
Official: Train brake automatically activated in fatal wreck
DUPONT, Wash. (AP) - Investigators are looking into whether the Amtrak engineer whose speeding train plunged off an overpass, killing at least three people, was distracted by the presence of an employee-in-training next to him in the locomotive, a federal official said Tuesday. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators want to know whether the engineer lost “situational awareness” because of the second person in the cab. Preliminary information indicated that the emergency brake on the Amtrak train that derailed in Washington state went off automatically and was not manually activated by the engineer, National Transportation Safety Board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said.
While this system might be nice... IT IS NO EXCUSE... for what happened.
Either a completely unqualified person was at the controls or else Amtrak screwed up in some other way such as improper training. Just another sign that the modern world is full of idiots whose brains have been ruined by reliance on computers and automation. These people can no longer accomplish anything without a computer telling them what to do. What a sad world we live in now.
I would like to know who was driving that train, and for what reason he killed and injured all of those people.
Well.....this is a good cover story....the Masses can and will accept this thin explanation.....so that we do not have a freak out over the Holidays.....
But I believe that this is an Antifa-led event that seeks to do harm
Jay Inslee, Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell.....whatcha gonna do?....Hey, Jay....who is Antifa?....Looking forward to your explanation.
Antifa is the spawn of your world view.
But, for now, you prefer to blame this event on a speeding violation.
List of references:
https://www.snopes.com/antifa-pour-concrete-on-tracks-causing-an-amtrak-train-to-derail/
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/7kn4nz/antifa_anarchists_blockaded_the_port_of_olympia/
ping
They could have at least hired a driver that didn’t have his head up his ass.
They’re years behind on implementing PTC, and the usual excuse is “government mandate that we (AMTRAK) can’t afford”. Here they’ve already committed to it, so that excuse goes out the window, they just didn’t do it.
And if I understand correctly, this time it’s Sound Transit that owns this decision, not Amtrak.
Why in the heck would it cost billions to implement basic speed controls?! It’s Easy from a technical point of view: map out the routes and related speed limits (heck Google and others have already done so), and simply have the computer that controls the trains’ speeds limit the speed. Might cost about $1,000 per train.
I smell big gov kickbacks and corruption.
Well we don’t know what the deal was yet. Speculation is that there may have been big shots in the cab, no excuse but distraction. The union has lobbied for two men in the cab but the companies say they can’t afford it, but I’ve read there were two in this case but one was a trainee - who was in control has not been made clear. It all will be as the investigation continues. A damn shame, that’s for sure.
Seems to me I read about a lawyer saying the wreck was eerily similar to a wreck in 2015 that he represented survivors and families of victims. The upshot was that the same system that would have prevented this wreck would have prevented the 2015 wreck. Amtrak is criminally negligent and it’s officers should be prosecuted.
I’d do it with a Raspberry Pi and a couple of relays. It wouldn’t be necessary to actually control the train’s speed, just to run an override and kill the throttle if it exceeds the allowable limit in a section, or if necessary hit the brake. If you wanted a really good system, add an IMU and fuse with GPS data so if the GPS position was lost the system could continue to operate using dead reckoning based on MPH and sensor input.
How about this Presdent Trump: sponsor a design competition to improve the nations rail safety with a $1 million prize for the best solution. Let innovation ring.
“Drivin’ that train...”
You are correct. In my glider I have a GPS with a moving aeronautical chart. It gives me a readout of airspeed, altitude, direction of flight etc. If I get near air space that is forbidden it will start sounding alarms. This same technolgy could be easily adapted to a train to automatically slow it and or apply the brakes if a critical speed and proximity warrant.
My GPS was just a few hundred dollars.
Yep, it’s called “geofencing”. Standard stuff.
I actually know someone who knows President Trump. I’m going to suggest what you recommended.
Copying cpdiii because he might be our competition. (Actually because he clearly gets it too.)
Who in their right mind engineers in a 30 mile per hour curve in a high speed train track?
Incompetence.
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