Train wrecks & plane crashes

[blastoff]

God only knows how many more billions a year could be added to Amtrak's annual losses if high speed trains get crammed down taxpayers throats.

More lefty ways to waste gobs of money under some pretense or other. It must be something in their water is all I can figure. Which is just another reason for us dastardly Republicans, conservatives, and other normal people to ratchet up that dirty air and water campaign of ours, pronto!

 

[waltky]

He was yakkin' onna phone, not payin' attention to what he was doin'...

Spain investigators: Train driver was on phone
Jul 30,`13 -- The driver of the train that derailed and killed 79 people in Spain was on the phone and traveling at 95 mph (153 kph) - almost twice the speed limit - when the crash happened last week, according to a preliminary investigation released Tuesday.

The train had been going as fast as 119 mph (192 kph) shortly before the derailment, and the driver activated the brakes "seconds before the crash," according to a written statement from the court in Santiago de Compostela, whose investigators gleaned the information from two "black box" data recorders recovered from the train. The speed limit on the section of track was 50 mph (80 kph). The crash occurred near Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, and was the country's worst rail accident in decades. Some 66 people are still hospitalized for injuries, 15 of whom are in critical condition.

The driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, was talking on the phone to an official of national rail company Renfe when the crash happened and apparently was consulting a paper document at the time, the statement said. Garzon was provisionally charged Sunday with multiple counts of negligent homicide. The driver received a call on his work phone in the cabin, not his personal cellphone, to tell him what approach to take toward his final destination. The Renfe employee on the telephone "appears to be a controller," the statement said. "From the contents of the conversation and from the background noise it seems that the driver (was) consulting a plan or similar paper document," the statement said.

In this July 25, 2013 file photo, a derailed train car is lifted by a crane at the site of a train accident in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. A Spanish court official said Monday July 29, 2013 that judicial police would soon begin extracting information from the “black box” of a train that crashed last week killing 79 people and injuring some 130 in the country’s worst train accident in decades. It is hoped the box might establish what happened in the final seconds prior to the crash. The investigation has increasingly focused on why the driver failed to brake in time to stop the train from hurtling into a dangerous curve, where it careered off the tracks and slammed into a concrete wall. On Monday, Spain’s royal family and leading politicians were to attend a somber Mass in homage to the victims killed and injured.

Investigators from the Santiago de Compostela court, forensic police experts, the Ministry of Transport and Renfe examined the contents of the two black boxes recovered from the lead and rear cars of the train. The investigation is ongoing. The next steps include measuring the wheels on the cars and examining the locomotive, the statement said without providing an explanation for those checks. Sniffer dogs will also be used to search for human remains in the wreckage, it said. The train was carrying 218 passengers when it hurtled off the tracks last Wednesday evening. It slammed into a concrete wall, and some of the cars caught fire. The Spanish rail agency has said the brakes should have been applied four kilometers (2.5 miles) before the train hit the curve.

Source

 

[waltky]

Train driver ignored 3 warnings to slow down...

Spain: driver received 3 signals to slow down
Aug 2,`13 -- The driver of a Spanish train that derailed, killing 79 people, ignored three warnings to reduce speed in the two minutes before the train hurtled off the tracks on a treacherous curve, crash investigators said Friday.

A court statement said the driver was talking on the phone to a colleague when he received the first automatic warning in his cabin of a sharply reduced speed zone ahead. The statement said the warning was by means of an audible sound but provided no further detail. Police forensic tests on the train's black box data recorders showed the last warning came just 250 meters (yards) before a dangerous curve where the accident occurred last week in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

At that point, the train was going 121 mph (195 kph) when the speed limit was set at 50 mph (80 kph). Four seconds later the driver applied emergency brakes. By the time Francisco Jose Garzon Amo applied the brakes, the train was already beginning to lose contact with the rails, the statement said. The total derailment occurred at 111 mph (179 kph).

Garzon has admitted in court that he was traveling too fast but could not explain to an investigating judge why he didnt slow down earlier. He was arrested shortly after the crash but was released by the judge on provisional charges relating to multiple counts of negligent homicide. In a court statement, the judge said the phone call, which came from the train's on-board ticket inspector, had been inappropriate, but added that the accident "seems to have been caused, no doubt, by the driver's inappropriate and unpredictable driving."

Of the passengers who were injured in the accident, 54 were still in the hospital late Friday, nine in critical condition. The investigation is expected to last several weeks before presenting its formal conclusions.

Source

 

[waltky]

Alabama news reports both pilots dead...

US: UPS CARGO JET CRASHES IN BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
Aug 14,`13 -- An airport spokeswoman says the large UPS cargo plane that crashed went down in an open field just outside an airport in Birmingham, Ala.

Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority, says there are no homes in the immediate area of the crash. U.S. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the A300 plane crashed on approach to the airport before dawn Wednesday.

There is no information yet on injuries, but UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford says there were two crew members aboard. Bergen says the plane was en route from Louisville, Ky.

Herrera-Bast says the plane crashed in "open land" she described as a grassy field on the outskirts of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. She says the crash hasn't affected airport operations.

Source

See also:

FAA: UPS cargo jet crashes in Birmingham, Ala.
Aug 14,`13 -- A UPS cargo plane crashed Wednesday morning in an open field just outside an airport in Birmingham, Ala.

UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford said there were two crew members aboard the plane, though it was no word yet on any injuries. There were no homes in the immediate area of the crash, said Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority. The Airbus A300 plane crashed around 5 a.m. CDT on approach to the airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The plane was en route from Louisville, Ky., Bergen said. Herrera-Bast said the plane crashed in "open land" she described as a grassy field on the outskirts of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. The crash hasn't affected airport operations, she said. The scene is about a half-mile north of Runway 18, Bergen said. Sharon Wilson, who lives near the airport, said she was in bed before dawn when an airplane went over her house at what sounded like treetop level.

The engines were making an odd sound like sputtering, she said. "It sounded like an airplane had given out of fuel. We thought it was trying to make it to the airport. But a few minutes later we heard a loud `boom,'" she said. Another resident, Jerome Sanders, lives directly across from the runway. He said he heard a plane just before dawn and could see flames seconds before it crashed. "It was on fire before it hit," Sanders said. At 7 a.m. Wednesday, conditions in the area were rainy with low clouds. Smoke was still rising from the scene at 7:47 a.m. There was a piece of the plane's white fuselage near a blackened area on the ground. "The plane is in several sections," said Birmingham Mayor William Bell, who was briefed on the situation by the city's fire chief. "There were two to three small explosions, but we think that was related to the aviation fuel." The two crewmembers on board were the pilot and the co-pilot, Bell said.

The plane appears to have struck a massive hardwood tree north of the runway. The top was broken out of the tree and there are pieces of a utility pole and limbs in the road. Nearby, grass was blackened near the bottom of a hill. A piece of the fuselage and an engine are visible on the crest of the hill. White smoke was pouring from the other side of the hill. "As we work through this difficult situation, we ask for your patience, and that you keep those involved in your thoughts and prayers," Atlanta-based UPS said in a statement. Previously, a UPS cargo plane crashed on Sept. 3, 2010, in the United Arab Emirates, just outside Dubai. Both pilots were killed. Authorities there blamed the crash on its load of between 80,000 to 90,000 lithium batteries, which are sensitive to temperature. Investigators found that a fire on board likely began in the cargo containing the batteries.

Source

 

[waltky]

Train was going 80mph in a 30mph zone...

Amtrak Washington train crash: Investigators focus on speed
19 Dec.`17 - A US passenger train that derailed, killing three people, was travelling at 80mph (130km/h) on a curve with a speed limit of 30mph, data from the train's rear engine indicates.

It happened in Washington state during rush hour on Monday and officials say 72 people were taken to hospital. A number of those injured are reported to be in a serious condition. Authorities said all carriages had now been searched, but would not rule out a rise in the number of dead. A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said investigators had arrived at the scene on Monday night local time and would probably be there for a week or 10 days. Bella Dinh-Zarr said the 12-carriage train had engines at the front and rear. The back engine's data recording had been retrieved, she said, and "preliminary indications are that the train was travelling at 80mph on a 30mph track". "Our hearts go out to everyone who is affected by this very tragic accident," she said.

Warning signs

Passengers say the train rocked and creaked as it took the bend fast before barrelling off a bridge on to a motorway packed with traffic. Seven vehicles, two of them lorries, were hit on the I-5 highway below. Several people were injured in their vehicles but none died. State transport spokesperson Barbara LaBoe was quoted in the Seattle Times newspaper as saying the limit on most of the track was 79mph (128km/h) but drivers were supposed to slow dramatically at the spot where the train derailed. She said warning signs were in place two miles before the lowered limit. It was Amtrak's first passenger service to run on a new, shorter route. Amtrak is the name of the company that runs most passenger trains in the US, with some government funding.

The derailment happened on a section of track previously only used for freight trains. A safety system called Positive Train Control (PTC) was not operational on the train in question, the president of Amtrak told reporters. Using GPS tracking, PTC automatically warns the driver of speed limits and other local conditions and applies the train's brakes if the warnings are not heeded. Congress originally legislated for PTC to be installed by the end of 2015 but it is still not even halfway complete. The cost of implementing the system fully on all tracks and vehicles is reported to be more than $22bn (£16bn). Train 501 had left Seattle, heading south for Portland, at 06:00 local time (14:00 GMT). One passenger carriage could be seen dangling from the bridge, while others were strewn across the road and the wooded area next to the track.

One carriage was hanging from the tracks, while another was upside down​

There were 86 people on board, including 77 passengers and seven Amtrak crew members, as well as a train technician. Police say 19 people were taken from the scene uninjured. Of the 72 transferred to hospital for evaluation, 10 were considered to have serious injuries. A recording of the train's emergency call to railway dispatchers was released to US media. "Emergency! We are on the ground!" a man, possibly the conductor, radios in. In a second radio call, another crew member reports that only the rear unit remains on the rails. "All other cars appear to be on the ground in quite a mess," he says. The train's driver has a head injury, he tells dispatchers.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says goin' 50mph over the speed limit prob'ly didn't help...

Rush to launch service cause of train derailment
Thu, Dec 21, 2017 - The rush to launch a service on a new, faster Amtrak route near Seattle came at a deadly cost — critical speed-control technology that could have prevented a derailment was not active before the train set off on its maiden voyage.

Work to install the sophisticated, GPS-based technology known as positive train control is not expected to be completed until next spring on the newly opened 24km span where the train derailed, said Sound Transit, the public agency that owns the tracks. The train was going 129kph in a 48kph zone on Monday when it raced off the rails as they curved toward a bridge, hurtling train cars onto a highway below, investigators said. Three people were killed and dozens were injured. Investigators say they are looking into whether the engineer was distracted.

A positive train control system could have detected the speeding and automatically applied the brakes to stop the train, said Najmedin Meshkati, a University of Southern California professor who has studied the technology for three decades. “It is another layer of safety,” he said. Amtrak and the Washington Department of Transportation started publicizing the switch to the new route in October.

Two damaged train cars sit on flatbed trailers on Tuesday after being taken from the scene of an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5 a day earlier in DuPont, Washington.​

Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that “no one wants PTC [positive train control] more than me,” but would not directly answer questions about why it is taking so long to get the speed-control technology up and running across the board. “I’m a huge believer in positive train control,” he said at a news conference on Tuesday evening. “It just makes so much scientific sense.” Anderson said the company’s safety culture can continue to improve and said the crash should be seen as a “wake-up call.” “It’s not acceptable that we’re involved in these types of accidents,” he said.

Railroads are under government orders to install positive train control by the end of next year after the industry lobbied US Congress to extend earlier deadlines, citing complexity and cost. Industry groups estimate railroads would spend a total of about US$10 billion to install and implement the systems.

Rush to launch service cause of train derailment - Taipei Times