AMTRAK Wreck - General Information

[Mauser KAR98K]

Depends on the timetable speed of the rest of the subdivision he was operating on, and the lovations of any other permanent or temporary speed restrictions. Heading into that curve if timetable speed allows for 100+ mph gives very little time to slow down if you nod off (it happens) or aren't paying attention. There's a good chance he blew some other slow orders on the way into that curve. As to why, that remains to be seen. When you're covering 1 mile every 40 seconds or so, it's easy to get in trouble if you're running a train like it's a damn sports car. Speed restrictions are only marked 2 miles in advance, at those speeds there's no way in hell I'm running on the flags, I'm slowing down well before that to give greater margin for error even on a light passenger train.

My guess is this is a bad case of operator error. Knowing how most RR's treat their train, yard, and engine service employee's fatigue may have been an issue here. With no one but himself in the cab nodding off is sadly a reality of the job. There is an alerter in the cab to make annoying sounds every 60 seconds if no control inputs are made. At 100 MPH you're covering over 1.5 miles between alerter activations, that don't really keep you awake if you're dog ass tired. Heaven forbid the RR's retained a fireman (junior engineer) to spell a tired engineer, keep each other awake, and of course speak up or take action when the train is going to be out of control.

I know all the talking heads keep harping about PTC, but so far that technology is not exactly super refined. It does some wacky shit if it gets confused, usually stopping the train for no reason with an emergency brake application. Lot's of fun, and why most PTC computers get shut off when equipped.

Oh well, what the hell do I know? I only do this shit for a living.

It's almost the same in the trucking industry. Yeah, the DOT 10 hour break is nice, but it isn't enough. The 14 hour rule places more fatigue on drivers than anything. Plus, the demands of the company and customers.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

He's going to have Tom Brady defend him? That should go well....

No, that he knows nothing about anything.

[nimdabew]

It's almost the same in the trucking industry. Yeah, the DOT 10 hour break is nice, but it isn't enough. The 14 hour rule places more fatigue on drivers than anything. Plus, the demands of the company and customers.

Same for pilots too. 8 hours of flight time could easily mean 12 hour duty days if there is a layover in a city, preflight prep, post flight, and writing any squawks for the aircraft.

[jmp45]

Chris Matthews blames the accident on lack of straight tracks. Another brilliant observation from the left..

MATTHEWS to Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.): But we have a country where people can complain. In Communist countries like China, they just draw a straight line, whether it goes through your house or not, it's a straight line. We have this Amtrak, I've been taking it for a half a century, it doesn't go in a straight line. In this case, it tried to make a turn and turned over! Because there's so many turns on that route. How do you get rid of the turns?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-she...es-train-crash

[Coal Dragger]

**** Chris Matthews is stupid.

[jmp45]

**** Chris Matthews is stupid.

He's insane.

[TacticalSledgehammer]

Fatigue, stress, distraction, and a possible medical situation could have played a role in the crash. PTC is a backup for us to make sure we do our jobs safely. It will alert you when you get close to something important (speed restriction, stop signal, etc) and require you to take action. Having said that, I know of no railroad with this system fully operational. As with anything electrical, it shouldn't be trusted and they need to keep their conductor (or hire an extra person) in the locomotive cab instead of in the passenger cars. In freight train service the major railroads are wanting to eliminate the conductor position entirely. It will ultimately take a set of eyes out of the cab and will make the engineer responsible for everything. If that happens, I'd bet accidents and derailment will rise. More workers will be injured moving this heavy stuff around....etc

[jpmuscle]

From today

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/16..._r=0&referrer=

[Averageman]

Chris Matthews blames the accident on lack of straight tracks. Another brilliant observation from the left..



http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-she...es-train-crash

http://www.biography.com/people/chri...51451#politics
Politics
Matthews’ childhood interest in politics carried over into his adulthood. After he returned from his Peace Corps work in Africa, he worked as an aide to U.S. Senator Frank Moss, a Democrat representing Utah. In 1974 Matthews ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democratic candidate representing Pennsylvania, but his run proved unsuccessful. In the mid-1970s, Matthew’s moved to Washington, D.C., where he was offered the job of congressional staffer under Senator Edmund Muskie, a Democrat from Maine. From 1974 to 1977, Matthews additionally worked as a staff assistant to the Senate Budget Committee.

When Jimmy Carter became president, Matthews served as his speechwriter. During the Carter administration, Matthews also handled press relations for the President’s Reorganization Project, a directive for reorganizing executive offices and federal government agencies. In 1981 Matthews became top aide to Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Matthews was forced to abandon the position when O’Neill retired in 1987.
Life long Democrat Operative.
Wrote Speeches for Carter, well, that explains a lot. Oddly enough nothing about working on the rail road.

[Averageman]

From today

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/16..._r=0&referrer=

That makes you wonder.