Posted on 12/18/2015 6:54:38 PM PST by smokingfrog
The Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia six months ago killed eight people and injured more than 200, including many people from New Jersey. Jim Gaines, a 48-year-old husband and father of two from Plainsboro, was among those killed in the crash.
We should be doing everything we can to ensure our nation's railways are safe. When crashes happen, those who are responsible should be held accountable, so that the people who have been injured or the families of those who have been killed have the opportunity to start rebuilding their lives.
Those families are facing a hurdle, though. An obscure law from 1997 states that passenger railroads cannot be held responsible beyond $200 million for a crash, no matter how many people were injured or killed, and no matter if the railroad's fault is clear.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.nj.com ...
Kline, and attorney Robert Mongeluzzi represent 29 victims and their families – many still seeking answers about why the train – with engineer Brandon Bostian at the controls was, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, going too fast.
“Many of our clients,†Mongeluzzi told reporters, “have expressed concerns regarding the conduct of Mr. Bostian who was going 106 miles an hour in a 50 mile an hour zone.â€
“We’d absolutely like to speak to the engineer,†stated Philadelphia Police Captain Mark Burgmann, “he has yet to speak to us, and we would like to speak to him because we have a lot of questions we would like to ask him.â€
Captain Burgmann says his investigators at East Detective Division are moving forward with their probe, and once they receive preliminary findings from the NTSB, they’ll forward their evidence to the District Attorney who will decide whether to file charges-with the option of using a grand jury to assist him.
“This is still a very active investigation,†Captain Burgmann explained, “we haven’t let go of it at all, we’re still investigating it.â€
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/12/02/train-crash-victims-attorney-grand-jury-probe/
We should ask why the speeding engineer has not been charged.
Hard to believe the NTSB hasn’t come out with something yet.
Wasn’t this the accident wherein the homosexual conductor was texting an underage male at the time?
60foot, Ping...!
The engineer was a homosexual activist. NTSB has denied that he was talking or texting.
http://articles.philly.com/2015-06-12/news/63310485_1_amtrak-train-ntsb-speed-limit-signs
Friends have said that Bostian grew up loving trains. In his previous posts on Internet train forums, he complained about lax safety at railroads, saying that new safety systems could prevent crashes caused by operator error or fatigue.
Officials have said that a speed-limiting system called Positive Train Control could have prevented Tuesday’s derailment, but Amtrak had not yet switched it on in the Philadelphia area.
Although the Amtrak engineer in the Philly wreck was a homosexual activist, the wreck you are referring to is, I believe, the Caltrans - Union Pacific head-on in Chatsworth, CA in 2008. The Caltran engineer in that instance was texting some teenaged boys...
See paragraph two in this report:
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