there are injuries, but I haven't heard of any casualties yet. Lettuce pray


Amtrak going from DC to NYC

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/amtrak-train-from-washington-crashes-in-philadelphia/2015/05/12/ac533150-f912-11e4-a47c-e56f4db884ed_story.html

[Edited on May 12, 2015 at 10:35 PM. Reason : hy]

5/12/2015 10:33:18 PM

which one of you fuckers left a penny on the tracks?

5/12/2015 10:39:44 PM

crackheads probably stole the tracks for scrap metal.

5/12/2015 10:41:09 PM

#tracklivesmatter

5/12/2015 11:13:29 PM

i LOVE the way you called it "Illadelph"!

1. A company that makes some sick ass bongs

5/13/2015 12:32:37 AM

Quote :

"At least 5 dead"

5/13/2015 12:49:54 AM

I am praying for the lost violin

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/amtrak-passenger-criticised-on-twitter-over-lost-violin-tweet-after-fatal-philadelphia-crash-10246083.html

5/13/2015 7:05:31 AM

6 dead

5/13/2015 7:38:36 AM

6 dead

5/13/2015 7:38:36 AM

7 dead


I wonder what caused it. Speed? Did the operator fall asleep?

5/13/2015 1:33:44 PM

^ I was wondering the same thing. It must be a bad mistake because I haven't heard a news report start speculating yet.

5/13/2015 1:34:44 PM

damn, I took that train route from Richmond to Philadelphia several times in the last year. But I guess from the sounds of it, it crashed after the 30th St. station, which is where I'd get off.

it's weird that a day later there's no info on what caused it.

RIP to the dead

5/13/2015 1:51:39 PM

I feel like I saw something about there being a previous crash at that same curve...

[Edited on May 13, 2015 at 2:01 PM. Reason : ^ sounds like the train was doing 100 in a 50 (around that curve)]

[Edited on May 13, 2015 at 2:03 PM. Reason : http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/05/12/amtrak-train-derails-in-philadelphia.html?]

[Edited on May 13, 2015 at 2:20 PM. Reason : 106mph]

5/13/2015 1:55:07 PM

5/13/2015 2:44:52 PM

I'm confused as to how you can be at the controls of a train that crashes and kills people. And you can leave the crash site without giving a statement to authorities? So now he's getting coached up by a team of lawyers on how to lie properly to cover his/their asses.

5/13/2015 4:35:23 PM

I'm confused how they managed to pair a drunk conductor and a drunk engineer on the same job.

Seems like you'd want at least one of them to be sober...and I seriously suspect that's kinda the whole reason we've always had both positions.

5/13/2015 5:38:54 PM

Quote :

" Trail Derailment "

Trail....LOL

5/14/2015 12:10:04 AM

detrailment

5/14/2015 12:18:12 AM

Quote :

"Amtrak Engineer 'Very Distraught,' Doesn't Remember Crash, Attorney Says"

How convenient.

5/14/2015 7:00:43 AM

doesn't remember?

fucking bullshit

get a rope

5/14/2015 7:13:22 AM

So, was he asleep, or...?

5/14/2015 7:29:55 AM

He's refusing to talk to investigators. Either he was asleep or drunk...or both.

Also - aren't trains hooked up to some sort of hub/tracking station? How did no one there notice this train was in excess of 2 times the speed limit for that section of track?

5/14/2015 8:08:49 AM

evidently there's some train control system that could have overrode the engineer and slowed the train down

but it's not installed in that section of track

5/14/2015 9:10:48 AM

wouldn't have mattered. All that shit happened so fast. Engineer was probably only alseep for a few seconds.

those trains can gain an extra 20-30mph in several seconds. they were cruising at speed limit 70-80mph , engineer nodded off for a few seconds (speed increased to 100 before the turn) and didn't hit the brake before the 50mph turn -- end of story. he probably woke up just into the turn, pulled the brake but it was too late.

The people back at the monitoring system probably saw it too and didn't even have time to react. They were probably getting ready to make a call up to the engineer, but didn't even have time to do that.

The companies want you to think their control system in FL is the panacea, but the real problem with amtrak is the engineer and conductor aren't co-located. Ideally they should have two engineers in the front and a conductor in the caboose. Engineers fall asleep all the time on freight trains, usually the conductor will wake him up (cause they sit together) or the alerter will go off.

[Edited on May 14, 2015 at 9:29 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on May 14, 2015 at 9:33 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2015 9:29:11 AM

i thought positive train control automatically slowed the train, are you saying that it just reports speed?

kinda related:
yesterday the GOP voted to cut the Amtrak budget, so good luck getting faster rollout of safety controls

5/14/2015 9:45:33 AM

the train control system, yes, that could have slowed the train down. I was talking about the monitoring system that is everywhere. Every train is pinging data back to a command center. They probably saw what was happening and was seconds away from calling the engineer to shut him down, happens on freight all the time.

the ntsb and companies are going to use this as a push for positive control everywhere. But CSX, NS, etc don't give a shit about safety, they just want to reduce the number of engineers they have to pay.

Electronic systems fail too, the better answer is to have the control system and redundant engineers, but nobody is talking about putting more warm bodies in a seat. That would have saved this accident almost certainly.

5/14/2015 10:43:05 AM

Hello, airplanes?
It's me, trains. You win.

5/14/2015 10:47:27 AM

Quote :

"The companies want you to think their control system in FL is the panacea"

The NTSB is a company now?

Quote :

"“We feel that had such a system [PTC] been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred,” the NTSB’s Robert Sumwalt told reporters Wednesday. “Without it, everybody on a train is one human error away from an accident.”"

[Edited on May 14, 2015 at 11:04 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2015 11:03:35 AM

So lets say he fell asleep, what criminal charges can be bought against him?

5/14/2015 11:44:41 AM

Quote :

"evidently there's some train control system that could have overrode the engineer and slowed the train down but it's not installed in that section of track"

Quote :

"wouldn't have mattered. All that shit happened so fast. "

Quote :

"the train control system, yes, that could have slowed the train down. I was talking about the monitoring system that is everywhere."

oooooook

5/14/2015 11:51:51 AM

Quote :

"So lets say he fell asleep, what criminal charges can be bought against him?"

Negligent Homicide x7 at the least.

5/14/2015 12:07:12 PM

[Edited on May 14, 2015 at 12:36 PM. Reason : ]

5/14/2015 12:34:32 PM

The engineer has changed his FB profile pic to solid black, to which he's received messages of support including the poignant

Quote :

"Pull threw B routing for you!"

5/14/2015 12:42:03 PM

8th death confirmed.

5/14/2015 12:57:43 PM

Quote :

"doesn't remember? fucking bullshit get a rope "

It works for police... keep their mouths shut until they can look at the evidence and see how they can weasel their way out, then write the reports and give and give an official account.

5/14/2015 4:13:05 PM

I am confused as to how Illadelph was a better abbreviation than Philly.

5/14/2015 5:43:36 PM

5/14/2015 5:56:46 PM

Quote :

"The NTSB is a company now"

I guess you think that body scanners are making us safe in the airplanes too.

The NTSB and govt reg agencies are clueless they just get incpeted (or money) from industry. This whole thing could have been avoided with a second engineer or even the conductor riding next to him. CSX rides two together.

5/14/2015 7:18:07 PM

I'm surprised any Amtrak train had 200 people on it. The ones around here usually have one engine and one car...200 tons of unstoppable diesel-belching steel to move 50 people at moderate speeds through cities with thousands of unprotected grade-level crossings. It'd be better for the environment, their budget and the safety of everyone to rent a bus.

Passenger rail has no place in this country. They need to just admit it will never work and free up the lines for cargo, the one use of trains that really makes sense.

5/14/2015 11:16:15 PM

^^^that's those guys from jimmy fallon! /beethoven

5/14/2015 11:21:22 PM

Quote :

"I'm surprised any Amtrak train had 200 people on it. The ones around here usually have one engine and one car...200 tons of unstoppable diesel-belching steel to move 50 people at moderate speeds through cities with thousands of unprotected grade-level crossings. It'd be better for the environment, their budget and the safety of everyone to rent a bus. Passenger rail has no place in this country. They need to just admit it will never work and free up the lines for cargo, the one use of trains that really makes sense."

Have you actually ridden a passenger train in the northeast?

5/15/2015 12:18:03 AM

These kind of things wouldn't happen if all engineers wore body cameras.

5/15/2015 12:26:13 AM

Quote :

"I'm surprised any Amtrak train had 200 people on it. The ones around here usually have one engine and one car...200 tons of unstoppable diesel-belching steel to move 50 people at moderate speeds through cities with thousands of unprotected grade-level crossings. It'd be better for the environment, their budget and the safety of everyone to rent a bus. Passenger rail has no place in this country. They need to just admit it will never work and free up the lines for cargo, the one use of trains that really makes sense."

The Northeast Corridor is fully electrified, has no at-grade crossings save for a handful in Connecticut, operates at up to 150 mph, carriers nearly a million people each day, and has captured 75% of the air/rail market between DC and NYC and 54% between NYC and Boston. All of this on a shoestring budget compared to its peer agencies abroad and while running on century old infrastructure in some places. Say what you will about much of the passenger rail networks in the US, some of which are preserved for purely political reasons (you can bet that the congressman representing Wilson, NC is making sure that station doesn't go away), but the Northeast Corridor is as logical a rail corridor as almost any that you'll find in Europe and Asia.

5/15/2015 12:30:57 AM

Earl pwnt

5/15/2015 12:40:46 AM

: ) And yet it still loses $billions each year. Don't get me wrong, I love Amtrak; its continued existence is the best way to ward off the bottomless financial pit of high speed rail.

5/15/2015 1:54:25 AM

I can't believe I'm being sucked into this, but every form of transportation in the country loses billions each year. Also, the Northeast Corridor actually has an operating profit.

5/15/2015 7:45:55 AM

why would we want public transportation to operate at a profit?

5/15/2015 9:04:00 AM

We should throw all the funding at the route people ride (DC through Boston) and get rid of the routes no one rides (all the rest of them).

5/15/2015 9:24:07 AM

Until March, any profits on the Northeast Corridor were used to subsidize other routes in the system. In March a bill was passed allowing them to be reinvested into the NEC. Also, for the real underperforming routes the states that want them have to put in money to keep them running. For what it's worth the Piedmont and Carolinian are two of the more successful Amtrak routes outside the northeast, in part because the North Carolina Railroad owns a lot of the right of way instead of paying freight companies to use it.

5/15/2015 10:18:06 AM

Funding was only part of the problem with the failure to implement the system in the NEC. In 2008, Congress forced Amtrak to go to private wireless companies and negotiate to purchase frequencies on which the system operates instead of mandating the frequencies to them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/us/amtrak-says-it-was-just-months-away-from-installing-safety-system.html?_r=0

5/15/2015 12:37:58 PM