Posted on 02/04/2018 8:14:01 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
It would appear that something is seriously wrong with the way passenger rail is operating in the United States under the federal corporation AMTRAK. This crash is the third fatal AMTRAK crash since the AMTRAK Cascades train derailed in Washington State at the cost of 3 lives and 62 passenger injuries only 49 days ago.
...I did a quick and dirty calculation of the ratio of crashes to total passengers carried. AMTRAK carried 31.3 million passengers in 2016, while Japan’s railways carried 7.589 billion in 2014, the closest date I could find quickly, or 242 times more passengers. If Japan’s railroads had the same rate of fatal crashes as Amtrak over the past 49 days, they would have experienced almost 15 fatal crashes per day.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The RRs have always had many alcoholics and drug users, but most of the workers were connected, by family and friends.
In the past when the guy driving the train was incapacitated; it was 'hey Stosh, get up front and give your uncle a hand.'
Today the connections are mostly gone. It is every man for himself. Stosh is drunk, get to the rear.
Rule #1: You shouldn’t drive a passenger train 75 mph if you are asleep or on drugs.
Once is happenstance,
Twice is a coincidence,
And three times is a conspiracy...
There’s been an average of more than one Amtrak derailment evrry two weeks for a number of years.
I believe the SC amtrack was on another track stopped to allow passage of the CSX freight train that has the track priority.
It was noted on another thread that the Amtrack engine although stopped, encroached on the main taack and was struck by the oncoming freight train. From what I saw, I can believe that to be near the truth.
“Three times is enemy action”
- James Bond
Or were they accidents?
Amtrak needs to investigate the problems, publish those, and outline what they are going to do to fix them.
This one’s not Amtrak’s fault, AFAIK. Now if the engineer ran a stop signal, that’s another matter entirely.
CSX did have two trains on the same track at the same time. NTSB team probably there as I type, will sort it all through.
I’m seeing on rail enthusiast message boards much complaining about how the late Hunter Harrison & his “precision railroading” have seriously messed up the railroad.
While the ID of the engineer in the recent derailment in Washington is a closely-guarded secret, the ID of the second person, a conductor, in the cab is now known. It’s a black guy named Garrick Freeman. This has only come to light because he’s filed a lawsuit vs. Amtrak.
Amtrak needs to investigate the problems, publish those, and outline what they are going to do to fix them.
Yes, a Select Committee ...a Task Force that reports to the chairperson ... a thorough review...an Advisory Board...
The Budget Committee let be known our funding has run out.
“Except in the Northeast Corridor, AMTRAK trains operate on tracks owned by private railways, which make their money from freight. The divided responsibility may have some relation to the problems being experienced.”
False
The State of Michigan now owns the track from somewhere near Detroit to Kalamazoo, except for Battle Creek. Amtrak owns from Kalamazoo down to Indiana.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Line
If the Dems would stop blocking Trump’s appointment for director of the National Transportation Safety Board, that would be a big help. This is not just Amtrak and it needs coordination.
What’s new? Typical results when the “government” runs anytrhing...ANYTHING!
AMTRAK = SELL IT
Hasn’t made a profit from day one runs on government money.
I don’t know how it is in Europe or Asia, but Amtrak leases a significant mileage of track owned by freight railroads, and my understanding is that the freight trains have priority. Don’t know what the solution is, but obviously if they are going to be sharing tracks they have to have a very well-developed communication system set up.
No, the freighter was sitting on the tracks empty and the passenger Amtrak was on the wrong track, running into it.
The worst part is that it was engine-engine, so the engineer was killed. If it was into the rear of the train, probably not as bad. Don’t know what the conductor was doing to be killed.
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