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 GOP is not Amtrak’s fault at all. Clearly one should never get on a track and sit there. Truck’s fault. Also human fault for not getting off the truck right away.
AMTRAK needs to stand down, and not just for a couple of days.
5.56mm
Correct, GOP special train ax not train crew’s fault.
Just a guess, but if CSX had the Silver Star not on the normal track, conductor probably in cab to help with signals and track landmarks.
Circumstantial evidence has this one making CSX looking really bad.
“Hasn’t made a profit from day one runs on government money.”
No, runs on YOUR money.
Indeed pockets are full fat and happy.
NTSB: The switch was lined and locked for the freight siding.
The question is who and why?
First, TY for the NTSB update.
Just a guess (emphasis: GUESS) the CSX dispatcher was trying to thread the Silver Star through a series of long trains.
Reports from social media suggest (disclaimers apply) CSX in SC & FL has taken to running “Land Barges”, numbering up to 200 freight cars. These monster freight trains make it difficult for intercity passenger trains on defined schedules to make it through in a timely fashion, even with the massive padding added to Amtrak timetables.
“Precision Railroading” looking more like “Deathtrap Railroading” every day.
Keep in mind USG transportation policies, guided by political pork, have given us the transportation system the US has today. Fixing the mess will take time.
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