Amtrack Driver Did Not Mention He Was Driving 80 MPH When Calling For Help.

[Rexx Taylor]

By now, we all heard the call. The driver tells the operator that he has crashed, cars have fallen off the tracks, etc. Yet it sounded as if he was saying, "Uhm, I really don't know what happened, I was just driving on the tracks here and suddenly, I flew right off the tracks, no idea how that happened.
And last night going into today we are learning he was driving 80 in a 30 mile hr zone. Hmm, maybe he should of told the operator this?

The operator didn't ask how he fell off the tracks, but can you imagine if he/she did? You think the driver would of brought up his driving speed?

 

[OldLady]

Don't trains have brakes anymore? Anyone driving?
This is the problem with all that automatic shit. If it isn't working, you're in trouble.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

Don't trains have brakes anymore? Anyone driving?
This is the problem with all that automatic shit. If it isn't working, you're in trouble.

and how could he not see the curve coming up? I mean, even doing 45,, I slow down when I see a curve

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I am not up on this story other than I heard that Amtrak does not have warning systems in many areas.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

I am not up on this story other than I heard that Amtrak does not have warning systems in many areas.

well today we will hear more updates, but he was going pretty fast when he approached the curve! hmm, what was he doing?

 

[WinterBorn]

Don't trains have brakes anymore? Anyone driving?
This is the problem with all that automatic shit. If it isn't working, you're in trouble.

If he was doing 80mph in a 45mph zone, it wasn't the "automatic shit" that was the problem. It was the human driver.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

we cant blame President Bush on this one

 

[OldLady]

Don't trains have brakes anymore? Anyone driving?
This is the problem with all that automatic shit. If it isn't working, you're in trouble.

If he was doing 80mph in a 45mph zone, it wasn't the "automatic shit" that was the problem. It was the human driver.

I heard someone say that they've taken those curves at those speeds before with no trouble. This was a new track, though, and perhaps it wasn't so great. It had been converted to passenger rail.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What I can say is that I know a train engineer that retired a good 10 years ago.
In a conversation we had several years ago, he was worried about how train engineers use to be a highly skilled job. And how they are replacing high paid, high skilled. older guys with younger people with 1/4 of the training and rely too heavily on automation.
But I have no idea.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but if there is a speed limit for a train, what is it?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

P.S. If I have ever been on one, I was too young to remember being on it now.

 

[OldLady]

Don't trains have brakes anymore? Anyone driving?
This is the problem with all that automatic shit. If it isn't working, you're in trouble.

and how could he not see the curve coming up? I mean, even doing 45,, I slow down when I see a curve

It WAS a new track. Maybe the driver didn't realize the curve would be so tight? Or by the time he realized it was there, it was too late to slow down?
He did seem genuinely surprised though that they had derailed. So speed may not have been the only factor.

 

[KissMy]

According to a website which maps the location and speed derived from Amtrak’s train tracker app, the train was going 81.1 miles per hour just before it derailed on an overpass. That part of the track is designed for only 30-mile-an-hour speeds. Passengers say the train never slowed before it flew off the rails.

A head-on crash in 2008 between a passenger and freight train in Los Angeles pushed Congress to mandate the use of PTC on systems of all major rail lines. While the changes originally required compliance by 2015, there have been hold-ups by Republican controlled congress due to high costs. So this train did not have one yet.

If the train is moving too fast, the computer on board the train warns the conductor.
In an emergency, the train’s on-board computer can override the conductor & apply the brakes.

Besides slowing and stopping trains that are cruising too fast, Positive Train Control could also be used to prevent collisions between trains (since the system would know where each train is), keep trains from rolling into work zones, and stop trains from cruising through track signals left in the wrong position.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

Can u imagine the trial? Will the driver be wearing a pink sweater..baby blue dress shirt and a yellow tie?

 

[harmonica]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but if there is a speed limit for a train, what is it?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

P.S. If I have ever been on one, I was too young to remember being on it now.

obviously and the news' articles state the speed limits go down at curves
isn't it like a car, airplane, etc that the problem is multiplied by the speed it's going? --not just the damage, but also the chances of a fail for a ''minor'' problem?

 

[Rexx Taylor]

i still found the emergency call a bit peculiar, normally when people call 911, they will give the facts to the operator, and here we are, all the driver said was that he was down, cars fell off the tracks, and no mention of how he got to this point? this is like a drunk driver,plowing into a tree at 45mph, a bit dazed, calls 911, just tells the operator, ahhm,,i dont know what happened? I was driving down a street I usually drive on, and next thing you know, my front end is wrapped around a tree.

 

[rightwinger]

According to a website which maps the location and speed derived from Amtrak’s train tracker app, the train was going 81.1 miles per hour just before it derailed on an overpass. That part of the track is designed for only 30-mile-an-hour speeds. Passengers say the train never slowed before it flew off the rails.

A head-on crash in 2008 between a passenger and freight train in Los Angeles pushed Congress to mandate the use of PTC on systems of all major rail lines. While the changes originally required compliance by 2015, there have been hold-ups by Republican controlled congress due to high costs. So this train did not have one yet.

If the train is moving too fast, the computer on board the train warns the conductor.
In an emergency, the train’s on-board computer can override the conductor & apply the brakes.

Besides slowing and stopping trains that are cruising too fast, Positive Train Control could also be used to prevent collisions between trains (since the system would know where each train is), keep trains from rolling into work zones, and stop trains from cruising through track signals left in the wrong position.

From what was reported this morning, PTC had not been activated on that section of track and wasn't due to be operational till the spring.

The engineer had never traveled that section of track and obviously had bad information on what was coming up

 

[eflatminor]

Wait, are you telling me a brand new project overseen by both state and federal lawmakers and regulators turn out to be a complete and total disaster?

Well color me shocked.

It's true, everything the government touches turns to shit.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

According to a website which maps the location and speed derived from Amtrak’s train tracker app, the train was going 81.1 miles per hour just before it derailed on an overpass. That part of the track is designed for only 30-mile-an-hour speeds. Passengers say the train never slowed before it flew off the rails.

A head-on crash in 2008 between a passenger and freight train in Los Angeles pushed Congress to mandate the use of PTC on systems of all major rail lines. While the changes originally required compliance by 2015, there have been hold-ups by Republican controlled congress due to high costs. So this train did not have one yet.

If the train is moving too fast, the computer on board the train warns the conductor.
In an emergency, the train’s on-board computer can override the conductor & apply the brakes.

Besides slowing and stopping trains that are cruising too fast, Positive Train Control could also be used to prevent collisions between trains (since the system would know where each train is), keep trains from rolling into work zones, and stop trains from cruising through track signals left in the wrong position.

From what was reported this morning, PTC had not been activated on that section of track and wasn't due to be operational till the spring.

The engineer had never traveled that section of track and obviously had bad information on what was coming up

well thats just it, i would think that he knows the path of the tracks well in advance and know when he would need to slow down, right?

 

[KissMy]

i still found the emergency call a bit peculiar, normally when people call 911, they will give the facts to the operator, and here we are, all the driver said was that he was down, cars fell off the tracks, and no mention of how he got to this point? this is like a drunk driver,plowing into a tree at 45mph, a bit dazed, calls 911, just tells the operator, ahhm,,i dont know what happened? I was driving down a street I usually drive on, and next thing you know, my front end is wrapped around a tree.

Supposedly the engineer hit his head, his eyes were swollen shut.and was bleeding from the head. Probably not tracking right during that call.

 

[KissMy]

According to a website which maps the location and speed derived from Amtrak’s train tracker app, the train was going 81.1 miles per hour just before it derailed on an overpass. That part of the track is designed for only 30-mile-an-hour speeds. Passengers say the train never slowed before it flew off the rails.

A head-on crash in 2008 between a passenger and freight train in Los Angeles pushed Congress to mandate the use of PTC on systems of all major rail lines. While the changes originally required compliance by 2015, there have been hold-ups by Republican controlled congress due to high costs. So this train did not have one yet.

If the train is moving too fast, the computer on board the train warns the conductor.
In an emergency, the train’s on-board computer can override the conductor & apply the brakes.

Besides slowing and stopping trains that are cruising too fast, Positive Train Control could also be used to prevent collisions between trains (since the system would know where each train is), keep trains from rolling into work zones, and stop trains from cruising through track signals left in the wrong position.

From what was reported this morning, PTC had not been activated on that section of track and wasn't due to be operational till the spring.

The engineer had never traveled that section of track and obviously had bad information on what was coming up

well thats just it, i would think that he knows the path of the tracks well in advance and know when he would need to slow down, right?

There still should have been a speed limit sign well before the turn for engineers like him who had not driven that new track before. I guess he missed it.