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The more we learn about Amtrak derailment the stranger it gets
The Hill ^ | 31 December 2017 | Russell G. Quimby

Posted on 12/31/2017 8:58:50 AM PST by oh8eleven

The National Transportation Safety Board investigating the accident, which killed three people and injured more than 50 others, is still trying to determine the probable cause and prevent such accidents in the future.

It appears that there were two people in the lead locomotive control cab of the train who were both injured and hospitalized: an instructor engineer, and another engineer who was learning the territory and qualifying to operate the train along the route.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amtrak; ntsb; railroad; trainwreck; williegreen
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To: oh8eleven

My Guess? Traniee employee. A non-binary thingy with absolutely no experience.


81 posted on 12/31/2017 12:00:18 PM PST by heights
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To: oh8eleven

Your job is to drive the damn train and obey the speed limits and rules. Do your job.


82 posted on 12/31/2017 12:04:21 PM PST by databoss
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To: oh8eleven

Maybe is was “OK, Trainee - let me show you why they have this curve marked so slow” or “OK, Trainee, let’s see if you know how to correct an overspeed condition”.


83 posted on 12/31/2017 12:11:53 PM PST by PAR35
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To: vette6387
I’d settle for little round trackside signs with posted speeds!

They had trackside speed limit signs. They were either not seen or ignored.

84 posted on 12/31/2017 12:15:43 PM PST by PAR35
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To: Balding_Eagle
"Black Woman driver is my bet."

FWIW: Bit of data for you: one report described the "driver" as

"bleeding from the head, and with two black eyes"...

85 posted on 12/31/2017 12:31:58 PM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias | "Islamists": Satan's assassins | "Moderate Muslims": Useful idiots.)
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To: Balding_Eagle
Belay that. Correction:

"bleeding from the head, and with both eyes swollen shut"...

86 posted on 12/31/2017 12:36:29 PM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias | "Islamists": Satan's assassins | "Moderate Muslims": Useful idiots.)
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To: jmacusa

“an old Jesse Fuller tune about a train engineer and his pet monkey who one day takes the train for a joy ride when the engineer wasn’t around and did a better job then he did driving it”

Won’t work. Already too many concessions to the Monkey Union.


87 posted on 12/31/2017 12:51:54 PM PST by NYAmerican
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To: UCANSEE2

What is the evidence it was going 80 mph. Is it a camera?


88 posted on 12/31/2017 12:52:03 PM PST by x_plus_one ( I pray Gods eyes may once again gaze upon me and remind me that I am still His child.)
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To: x_plus_one

the rail road locomotive version of the airplanes “Black Box” Believe it recorded 79 mph just before derailment.


89 posted on 12/31/2017 1:08:35 PM PST by Bull Snipe
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To: Brilliant

“Lost” may be overstating it. It is not the location that mattered, but the tightness of the curve. An aerial view is deceiving. I’ve driven through mountains with a GPS in 3D mode, and the device does not do justice to the sharpness of the curves. If these engineers had only run the route a couple times at night, it stands to reason they may have been taken by surprise. But the speed limit signs and daylight conditions make things questionable, to be sure.

The last time I was buried alive Google Maps was still in its infancy.


90 posted on 12/31/2017 1:17:18 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew (Lock. Her. Up.)
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To: UCANSEE2
The new route was supposed to save ‘minutes’.

This was an Obama stimulous project. It was to save 10 - 15 minutes on the SEA/PDX route

So $181M / 15 minutes means this project cost $12.1M per minute saved.

Seems like a good investment of the tax payer's money to me.

91 posted on 12/31/2017 1:20:31 PM PST by llevrok (Swamp nothing! Give Washington DC an enema !)
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To: Brilliant
What I got from the article was that they did not realize where they were until it was too late. Takes a long time to stop a train.

This is up the road from my house. The RR parallels I-5. As they were heading south, they would have passed the lights of Ft Lewis, the town of duPont and then hit a stretch of rural track.

If they drove this at night in training a couple of times, there were enough visuals to tell them where they were.

92 posted on 12/31/2017 1:26:55 PM PST by llevrok (Swamp nothing! Give Washington DC an enema !)
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To: Bull Snipe
What is the evidence it was going 80 mph. Is it a camera?

the rail road locomotive version of the airplanes “Black Box” Believe it recorded 79 mph just before derailment.

And some online train tracking service (like FlightAware) had them at 81, which they released that tid-bit about an hour after the crash

The whole thing smells fishy, honestly

93 posted on 12/31/2017 1:34:56 PM PST by llevrok (Swamp nothing! Give Washington DC an enema !)
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The speed limit at the curve where the train crosses
Interstate 5 is 30 miles per hour, said state transportation
department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe, while the speed limit on
most of the track is 79 mph. She said speed-limit signs are
posted two miles before the lowered speed zone and then just
before the zone.Dec 18, 2017

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwivs7_0mbXYAhWINd8KHS5iAI8QFghMMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seattletimes.com%2Fseattle-news%2Ftransportation%2Fcurve-where-amtrak-train-derailed-in-washington-has-speed-limit-of-30-mph%2F&usg=AOvVaw25jaRA0c7fkZQOb0U1Vm-T


94 posted on 12/31/2017 1:36:20 PM PST by deport
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To: llevrok

what is the refresh rate for the tracking services. From what I have read, the black box info showed brakes being applied just a few seconds before the derailment.


95 posted on 12/31/2017 1:41:41 PM PST by Bull Snipe
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To: Brilliant

Physics is not on your side if you are buried alive. Not much dirt on top of your box or whatever and the high frequency cell phone signal will not get in or out. A few years back, we had a banker kidnapped and buried in a box. They used a garden hose to provide air. Does not work. They found him not long after having expired from lack of oxygen.


96 posted on 12/31/2017 1:49:43 PM PST by Western Phil
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To: Western Phil

I believe that. However in the TV program, she made a phone call to the cops so the signal was obviously getting out.


97 posted on 12/31/2017 1:52:38 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: oh8eleven

.
How many engineers does it take to crash an AMTRAK locomotive?
.


98 posted on 12/31/2017 1:55:29 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: llevrok

There were several reasons for the new 14 mile route.
The old route ran on a BNSF freight track. Freight has priority over passenger. The old route ran between the Nisqually Reach (a body of water) and a series of cliffs. For several years rocks falling on rails was a constant maintenance problem on that stretch of track. The new route was built on an abandoned section of BNSF right-of-way. Along the new section of track, no freight traffic to wait for, no boulders on the tracks and a savings of 10-15 minutes of run time.


99 posted on 12/31/2017 2:05:48 PM PST by Bull Snipe
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To: oh8eleven

Like the bridge and CIC of a DDG, people get killed when other people are playing grab ass while on duty.

Imho of course.

5.56mm


100 posted on 12/31/2017 2:40:21 PM PST by M Kehoe
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