Posted on 05/15/2015 11:16:42 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
A computer system that allows speeding trains to be slowed remotely – potentially averting deadly derailments – was installed in the section of track in Philadelphia where Tuesday’s fatal Amtrak crash occurred but had not been turned on, congressional sources tell U.S. News.
“The PTC was installed in the section of track where the Philadelphia accident occurred, but for whatever reason had not been turned on, the PTC in that section,” Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., tells U.S. News, referring to "positive train control."
His account was corroborated by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.
“The tracks had PTC, the train had PTC,” Harris says.
Both congressmen are members of the House Appropriations Committee, which contacted Amtrak for more information about the crash.
The train, Amtrak Northeast Regional 188 from the nation's capital to New York City, was hurtling at more than twice the recommended speed limit when it jumped the tracks just after 9 p.m. Yet the technology that could have slowed it had not been enabled – allegedly because of delays in installing the system, Harris, Dent and a third congressional source say, citing communications between the Appropriations Committee and Amtrak.
"According to Amtrak, PTC was installed in the section of track where the Philly accident occurred," a committee source writes in an email to U.S. News. "There have been delays in 'turning it on' associated with FCC dealings and getting the bandwidth to upgrade the radios from 900 MHz to something higher (for more reliability)."
Amtrak's application for the bandwidth needed to use the positive train control system was approved in "early March," an FCC official says.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
Into the memory hole with this one.
The BNSF often had to disable the PTC to get the trains to move.
Very, very, very, very, very, almost sort of close.
Very, very, very, very, very, almost sort of close.
So it is on the track and not on the train? That’s interesting.
If there is no winner on Find The REPUBLICAN!!, the whole story goes In To The Memory Hole (spooky music plays).
so its the machines that caused this accident...not the well paid engineer sitting there and controlling the actual train...
In Japan, they use Automatic Train Stop (ATS) sensors on the track to determine if the train is travelling too fast or overran a red signal to automatically slow down or stop the train. I’m surprised they didn’t implement this first before installing the much more complicated Positive Train Control (PTC) system.
You know, it would probably be helpful to have a person at the front of the train to control it. Just like they did back in the 1800s. I think they called them Engineers.
50,000+ trains passed that same curve without a hint of a problem, yet this one is going over TWICE the allowed speed.
Answer that question, and you have the answer to the problem.
Rush says the FCC was too busy messing with Obama’s pet project of “ net neutrality” to assign bandwidth to the Amtrack safety system, so it is Obama’s latest failure...with another 8 bodies on his “ Americans Killed” list.
Wake up, Fox News, and report this!
If it's in the engine, it can be disabled. Like the alert whistles were in that Maryland Amtrak disaster in 1987 that killed 16.
"It was later discovered that someone had disabled the cab signal alerter whistle on lead unit #5044 with duct tape, muting it almost completely."
Just a little bureaucratic snafu. Move along, folks.
Watch McConnell spend billions on new crap.
Don't utilize new crap.
Blame Republicans for niggardliness.
Watch McConnell spend billions on new crap.
It was probably installed, tested and verified to work. Then turned of because workplace rules require some union specialist to put his finger on the switch and flip it.
The real question is why are trains even designed to go over the speed limit in the first place.
Sounds like the FCC was too busy figuring out a way to seize control of the internet to issue an approval for a critical safety system.
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