Massive Amtrak Crash....but who cares about our highways and trains?

[Dragonlady]

You can have the latest greatest infrastructure in the world, but if a train operator is going to be running the train along at 106 mph in a section of track that supports half that speed, you're going to crash. Period !!

Another epic fail thread by this OP !

Wrong A$$hat.

The technology exists wherein there are sensors in the tracks going into low speed corners which detect when a train is going too fast and through satellite relays, brake the train. This technology has been in existence for years and has been installed in some sections of this New York to Washington corridor, but obviously not the section where this accident occurred. The train was equiped for the satellite braking but the track hadn't been upgraded. Had the US funded the infrastructure upgrades, there would have been no derailment of this train, regardless of what caused the train to speed up.

If there had been a second operator in the cab of that train, whatever caused the train to speed up may have been noticed and prevented. Of course that costs more money so Am-Trak, which is a money-losing company, cheaped out.

Investment in infrastructure could have prevented this accident. Running a railroad to the bottom line, cost 7 people their lives.

 

[M14 Shooter]

You can have the latest greatest infrastructure in the world, but if a train operator is going to be running the train along at 106 mph in a section of track that supports half that speed, you're going to crash. Period !!

Another epic fail thread by this OP !

Wrong A$$hat.

The technology exists wherein there are sensors in the tracks going into low speed corners which detect when a train is going too fast and through satellite relays, brake the train. This technology has been in existence for years and has been installed in some sections of this New York to Washington corridor, but obviously not the section where this accident occurred. The train was equipment for the satellite braking but the track hadn't been upgraded. Had the US funded the infrastructure upgrades, there would have been no derailment of this train, regardless of what caused the train to speed up.
If there had been a second operator in the cab of that train, whatever caused the train to speed up may have been noticed and prevented. Of course that costs more money so Am-Trak, which is a money-losing company, cheaped out.
Investment in infrastructure could have prevented this accident. Running a railroad to the bottom line, cost 7 people their lives.

Intentional operator error. Impossible to get past that point.

 

[Mertex]

He proposed putting a second Asst Engineer in the cab to help with the workload and to double check each other.

Sounds like a good idea, but installing the PTC will probably take care of the problem. The question is, will Amtrak have enough money to do it by Dec 2015 now that Republicans have voted to cut their funding even more.

Rail News - Sound Transit to install PTC equipment on trains. For Railroad Career Professionals

 

[AvgGuyIA]

There's been a plan to install a system in all trains that would stop a train under these circumstances, but Congress won't pass it.

Congress allocated and funded the money. Obama's AmTrak failed to install the controls there and haven't explained why.

Obama's AMTRAK? My god, you're silly.

Amtrak is wholly owed and operated by the u.s. Govern,ent. Who runs the U.S. Government?

 

[AvgGuyIA]

He proposed putting a second Asst Engineer in the cab to help with the workload and to double check each other.

Sounds like a good idea, but installing the PTC will probably take care of the problem. The question is, will Amtrak have enough money to do it by Dec 2015 now that Republicans have voted to cut their funding even more.

Rail News - Sound Transit to install PTC equipment on trains. For Railroad Career Professionals

There you go again. They didn't cut the funding.

 

[Mertex]

He proposed putting a second Asst Engineer in the cab to help with the workload and to double check each other.

Sounds like a good idea, but installing the PTC will probably take care of the problem. The question is, will Amtrak have enough money to do it by Dec 2015 now that Republicans have voted to cut their funding even more.

Rail News - Sound Transit to install PTC equipment on trains. For Railroad Career Professionals

There you go again. They didn't cut the funding.

Are you arguing semantics?

Republicans passed a bill to cut Amtrak funding.....there, is that better?



Washington (CNN)A House panel approved a measure Wednesday that cuts funding for Amtrak, less than a day after a train derailment left at least seven people dead and many more injured.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted 30-21 to reduce grants to Amtrak by $252 million -- a drop of about 15% from last year's level.
House committee passes bill that cuts Amtrak funding - CNNPolitics.com


As investigators were piecing together what happened, the House of Representatives moved to reduce Amtrak's federal funding. The Republican-led Appropriations Committee voted on Wednesday to slash grants to Amtrak by over $250 million—a 15 percent cut from last year. (Amtrak's new budget would be about $1.1 billion.) The vote had been previously scheduled, but in the wake of Tuesday's accident, Democrats and transportation experts criticized the move, asserting that increased rail funding was more important than ever.
The Amtrak Crash Hasn t Stopped Republicans From Trying to Cut Its Funding Mother Jones

 

[Spare_change]

You can have the latest greatest infrastructure in the world, but if a train operator is going to be running the train along at 106 mph in a section of track that supports half that speed, you're going to crash. Period !!

Another epic fail thread by this OP !

Wrong A$$hat.

The technology exists wherein there are sensors in the tracks going into low speed corners which detect when a train is going too fast and through satellite relays, brake the train. This technology has been in existence for years and has been installed in some sections of this New York to Washington corridor, but obviously not the section where this accident occurred. The train was equiped for the satellite braking but the track hadn't been upgraded. Had the US funded the infrastructure upgrades, there would have been no derailment of this train, regardless of what caused the train to speed up.

If there had been a second operator in the cab of that train, whatever caused the train to speed up may have been noticed and prevented. Of course that costs more money so Am-Trak, which is a money-losing company, cheaped out.

Investment in infrastructure could have prevented this accident. Running a railroad to the bottom line, cost 7 people their lives.

Who is going to watch the watcher? And, the watcher's watcher?

Sounds like a union scam to me.

 

[EverCurious]

Can anyone verify the following:

"Amtrak has equipped most of its heavily used Northeast Corridor with positive train control, but it was not in operation along the section where the accident took place because it was still being tested, said Boardman, the CEO.

However, Boardman vowed on Thursday that the technology will be in operation along the entire Northeast Corridor by the end of 2015, the deadline set by Congress."

 

[Steinlight]

Amtrak loses tens of millions a year, and when it is responsible for five deaths, the response is to give them more money? This is the problem with what are essentially state funded monopolies, they have no incentive to become efficient and innovate and lower costs because they have no competition. They have perverted profit incentives where the continuation of their business is not contingent on running a profit, but on receiving and maximizing government subsidies. Whereas a fully private company that ran losses like this and had a major accident like this would go out of business, this incident could very well increase their funding. How insane is that? What needs to happen is for Amtrak to go out of business and for there to be free market competition in railway transportation

 

[AvgGuyIA]

The BILLIONS of 'shovel ready' dollars Obama pissed away on green energy companies that went bankrupt could have been spent on upgrading our infrastructure.

You mean on those green energy companies that donated millions to the Obama and DNC election?

 

[JoeB131]

Amtrak loses tens of millions a year, and when it is responsible for five deaths, the response is to give them more money? This is the problem with what are essentially state funded monopolies, they have no incentive to become efficient and innovate and lower costs because they have no competition. They have perverted profit incentives where the continuation of their business is not contingent on running a profit, but on receiving and maximizing government subsidies. Whereas a fully private company that ran losses like this and had a major accident like this would go out of business, this incident could very well increase their funding. How insane is that? What needs to happen is for Amtrak to go out of business and for there to be free market competition in railway transportation

actually, guy, most European railroads are subsidized by the government and have been for years.

The problem with AmTrak is that Congress insists it run like a business and ALSO insists that it serve regions that are underserved.

For instance, AmTrak runs the Zephyr that runs from Chicago to San Francisco, at a cost of $112 Million, but only had 376,000 riders last year.

 

[JoeB131]

You mean on those green energy companies that donated millions to the Obama and DNC election?

You mean the program that made back most of what the government loaned it because the companies that did work out turned a profit?

 

[skookerasbil]

I agree with the OP for once.

What needs to happen is........progressives need to foot the bill for new US infrastructure. Since so many trillions of $$ have gone to their failed causes in the past 50 years, they should be responsible and step up and open up their wallets!! THEY pay the fucking taxes on this!! When policies you support ruin a whole race, its reparations time. THEY foot the bill and provide blacks the jobs = winning.

 

[JoeB131]

Spambot wishes someone would pay attention to his Emojis...

 

[skookerasbil]

Spambot wishes someone would pay attention to his Emojis...

Gawd you're a fag.

Your views on everything are uber fringe s0n........and how many times have I made you look like a dolt on here on the subject of guns?

 

[Papageorgio]

He proposed putting a second Asst Engineer in the cab to help with the workload and to double check each other.

Sounds like a good idea, but installing the PTC will probably take care of the problem. The question is, will Amtrak have enough money to do it by Dec 2015 now that Republicans have voted to cut their funding even more.

Rail News - Sound Transit to install PTC equipment on trains. For Railroad Career Professionals

There you go again. They didn't cut the funding.

Are you arguing semantics?

Republicans passed a bill to cut Amtrak funding.....there, is that better?



Washington (CNN)A House panel approved a measure Wednesday that cuts funding for Amtrak, less than a day after a train derailment left at least seven people dead and many more injured.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted 30-21 to reduce grants to Amtrak by $252 million -- a drop of about 15% from last year's level.
House committee passes bill that cuts Amtrak funding - CNNPolitics.com


As investigators were piecing together what happened, the House of Representatives moved to reduce Amtrak's federal funding. The Republican-led Appropriations Committee voted on Wednesday to slash grants to Amtrak by over $250 million—a 15 percent cut from last year. (Amtrak's new budget would be about $1.1 billion.) The vote had been previously scheduled, but in the wake of Tuesday's accident, Democrats and transportation experts criticized the move, asserting that increased rail funding was more important than ever.
The Amtrak Crash Hasn t Stopped Republicans From Trying to Cut Its Funding Mother Jones

They shouldn't cut funding, they should defund it and shut it down. They carry 0.10 percent of all passenger service. There are many alternative ways to travel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dragonlady]

While the rest of the world is investing in rail transportation as an efficient, low carbon method of moving both goods and people, the U.S. is cutting funding.

There is no cure for stupid.

 

[jon_berzerk]

I heard the driver left 16 min. late, so the pressure was on to catch up....

possible

I heard it on Medved's radio show or Levin's on Wed. night.

it sped up

 

[Mertex]

He proposed putting a second Asst Engineer in the cab to help with the workload and to double check each other.

Sounds like a good idea, but installing the PTC will probably take care of the problem. The question is, will Amtrak have enough money to do it by Dec 2015 now that Republicans have voted to cut their funding even more.

Rail News - Sound Transit to install PTC equipment on trains. For Railroad Career Professionals

There you go again. They didn't cut the funding.

Are you arguing semantics?

Republicans passed a bill to cut Amtrak funding.....there, is that better?



Washington (CNN)A House panel approved a measure Wednesday that cuts funding for Amtrak, less than a day after a train derailment left at least seven people dead and many more injured.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted 30-21 to reduce grants to Amtrak by $252 million -- a drop of about 15% from last year's level.
House committee passes bill that cuts Amtrak funding - CNNPolitics.com


As investigators were piecing together what happened, the House of Representatives moved to reduce Amtrak's federal funding. The Republican-led Appropriations Committee voted on Wednesday to slash grants to Amtrak by over $250 million—a 15 percent cut from last year. (Amtrak's new budget would be about $1.1 billion.) The vote had been previously scheduled, but in the wake of Tuesday's accident, Democrats and transportation experts criticized the move, asserting that increased rail funding was more important than ever.
The Amtrak Crash Hasn t Stopped Republicans From Trying to Cut Its Funding Mother Jones

They shouldn't cut funding, they should defund it and shut it down. They carry 0.10 percent of all passenger service. There are many alternative ways to travel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please post a link to your stat, because I'm not sure you are correct.

During FY 2013 (October 2012 - September 2013), Amtrak welcomed aboard nearly 31.6 million passengers, the largest annual total in its history, and the 10th annual ridership record in the last 11 years. Every day, an average of more than 86,000 passengers ride more than 300 Amtrak trains.
Amtrak - About Amtrak - Facts Services - National Fact Sheet

There may be alternative methods of traveling but usually not convenient or on the time schedule that is needed by those that ride the train. Traveling by train cuts the passenger's time in half (from DC to NY) and is cheaper than flying.

Your comment is so typically conservative - "If it doesn't affect me, I really don't care about you".

 

[Annie]

Relevant:

Amtrak loses a ton of money each year. It doesn t have to. - The Washington Post

...best way to think of Amtrak is that it's essentially two different train systems rolled into one. One system is quite successful, the other isn't...