Amtrak Train Derails : Mass Casualty

[Qapla]

Since the train did NOT have the computer safety device (PTC), I am sure the engineer did not "assume the train would take care of itself", since he knew he was driving a train NOT equipped with the PTC (Positive Train Control is an advanced system designed to automatically stop a train before certain accidents occur. In particular, PTC is designed to prevent: Train-to-train collisions. Derailments caused by excessive train speed. Train movements through misaligned track switches.)

 

10 hours ago, digital_dreamer said:

As for Amtrak, I really don’t understand how an engineer can be at the controls and not know that the train is speeding or going too fast for the curve. Surely, he must know the curve was approaching and what speed was appropriate for it

 

This seems to be one of the big questions. Apparently, they did several test runs so you would the driver would have been aware of the curve and the speed limit. Then again, they seem to think he may have been "distracted" by "someone", perhaps a camera crew, in the engine cab.

 

This accident does not seem to have anything to do with any technology that the driver was relying on - it was quite the opposite. Had the technology been in place, the train would have never been going over the speed limit.

[Old]

23 minutes ago, Qapla said:

 

This accident does not seem to have anything to do with any technology that the driver was relying on - it was quite the opposite. Had the technology been in place, the train would have never been going over the speed limit.

 

Sounds like he was distracted. There were posted speeds signs on each side of the track as he approached the curve. 

I wonder why they have not put GPS units in each cab like I have in my car. It shows the speed zone I am in and advises me I am exceeding the speed limit. If this was coupled to an aural alarm saying 'SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! YOU IDIOT, SLOW DOWN!" That would supplement the signs and the automatic system. Garmin could put one in every cab for $1000 and do it in a month. Passenger airlines have been saying "TOO LOW, PULL UP!, TOO LOW, PULL UP!" for years.

[Miss Bea]

On 12/18/2017 at 1:28 PM, cricket246 said:

My big question, why don't trains have seatbelts?.... They said they will "look into it" to see if any  precautions can be taken in the future..... I wish these companies would lear from their mistakes rather than worry about cashflow...sigh..

Better yet. Do school buses have seat belts? Even on short rides, airports, etc, it makes me nervous. 

[Tortuga]

3 minutes ago, Miss Bea said:

Better yet. Do school buses have seat belts? Even on short rides, airports, etc, it makes me nervous. 

They need Velcro seats and Velcro onesies for all the kids...

[Qapla]

Having ridden on trains - I am glad they do NOT have seat belts!

 

You would have to wear it at all times for them to be effective - even while you try to sleep, eat and go to the restroom

 

Even in an airplane you  can take the seat seat belt off after takeoff ..... and, just like on a plane, the seat belt would not  be all that effective. Most deaths in a plane crash or a train wreck are not preventable by keeping people restrained in their seats - the damage it just too catastrophic for a seat belt to be the answer

 

About the only way to prevent deaths in a train wreck is to have trains without people on them and make sure they only wreck in uninhabited areas 

Edited December 24, 2017 by Qapla

[Sequoia]

My mom was on a train yesterday afternoon Friday January fifth 2018, on a different route also in Washington State and they had barely left the city where my mom was picked up and they hit a person.  My mom doesn't know if the person got himself or herself hit deliberately or not.  Sometimes people get themselves hit by trains on purpose trying to die by suicide, but we don't know if that's what happened.  

 

Well, they said the person was going to be okay.  They had to back the train up to get the person to medics.   It caused the train to be much later.  Then the train had some type of trouble, I think it may have been with the breaks so they had to stop again later.  They didn't get to the city where my mom was going until six o clock  the following morning on the sixth today and they were supposed to get there at nine o clock the night before last night.  My mom and I have taken that train route many times before and although it's supposed to get to our destination at nine at night sometimes it doesn't get there until ten or eleven at night.  But never at six  the following morning!