Train crash?

There are system available that would have prevented this tragedy but not installed. Why could this train obtains that speed?
As to the capped funds, anybody has an idea how much the victims will get as compared to what the lawyers will get?

 

1/2? I think that's the going rate.

 

This makes me wonder about putting my life in others hands. Planes, trains, and busses , those that drive them need to be held accountable.

 

The plane that went down in the French alps should have never happened either. More automated safeties need to be installed on trains and planes.

 

Probably something similar to the first few bars of this song.

 

Exactly!

 

All electronic devices are supposed to be off and stowed out of reach per the FRA. Sadly I see the opposite quite often. I'm sure the rules for passenger service are even stricter than freight service. You would think the fear of a large fine and/or termination would deter some but it does not. Most locomotives now have monitoring devices installed in them, so it is very easy to tell if a person is texting, web surfing, etc. while operating the train. The locomotive's I operate all have over speed limiters. Also, since fatigue is usually an issue, locomotives have alerters that go off every 90 seconds or so to keep the engineer awake. If the alerter isn't acknowledged within 20 seconds, the trains brakes are automatically applied. Probably more info than you were looking for, lol.

 

As a kid my alarm would go off at about 5AM because I needed to do my paper route before school. The clock-radio made a horrific high-decibel noise, but I got so used to it that I could get out of bed, walk across the room, hit the snooze button and get back into bed, all without ever becoming conscious of what I was doing. Some days I'd do this several times in a row, and then when I finally did wake up I'd be baffled as to how it had gotten to be 5:45.

I'm torn between wanting to be supportive of engineers on one hand, and on the other hand thinking that this is a job that just cries out for automation. I can't imagine how I'd stay alert and ready to react for hours at a time while doing a job whose core functions involved staring at the same track going by over and over again, and acknowledging a beeper every minute and a half. Allowing surfing and texting might actually make my train safer if I were in that driver's seat.

 

How can they put a cap of $200 million??

 

It's the government, I'm actually surprised you can sue them at all.

 

gheez thats me every morning

That sounds like a slippery slope to me.I assume your a lot younger than me.
I work around heavy equipment every day and I must say that I don't want my guys playing with their fones while working. I laid a guy off this past fall because he couldn't stay off his fone. He didn't do anything but txt and talk on his fone all day. This guy was in his late thirties...It's a shame, it cost him his job.

We are assuming this engineer was distracted here. I hope that isn't true, but it is happening so often.

There was a car/buggy accident close by here last year , just heard last night the girl rearended the buggy at speed while txting. She has been charged. (Killed both passengers and horse. I think she was following a group of cars. The other cars went around the buggy...she never saw it. I think the buggy was half on the berm. The berms are very narrow in this area)

 

Sure, distraction is a problem in such situations, but at the same time it seems crazy to demand constant vigilance in situations where there's simply nothing to do a lot of the time. I guess I'm suggesting that there might be a level of automation that's simultaneously too high, because there isn't enough to do to keep the operator mentally engaged, and too low, because the work still requires engagement.

 

My best guess is this is a fatigue related accident. Read a couple of articles from the engineer's (and mine) union complaining about insufficient rest periods between runs. Typical problem. Railroads always preach safety but in the end want absolutely everything they can physically get out of you. Accidents are 100% preventable according to them. It just isn't true. While extra training and rules implementation does help minimize accidents and infractions, human factor and mechanical failure just cannot be totally eliminated. I feel for everyone involved in the accident and thank the Lord every day I come home to my family. This fella will more than likely be totally blamed for this and will be sued to bankruptcy and probably spend some time in jail. Hence the reason he lawyered up immediately.

 

Ha...I didn't know this!!!

 

You are right on with this. Many newer locomotives have computer programs that we as engineers have to initiate first thing when climbing on the train. These programs are downloaded via satellite and are tertiotu specific. They essentially run the train and the engineer just sits there and blows crossings and resets the alerter. It gets very boring just sitting there for periods up to 12 hours. These systems were implemented for fuel conservation, a huge expense for the RR. Some systems work OK and others not worth a crap. What I mean by that is lots of forces moving throughout the train, run ins and run outs. Sometimes causing the train to break apart. These forces are theoretically enough to cause a derailment. Not what most people want to hear as a 100 car loaded oil train rumbles through urban areas.

 

always lawyer up immediately. It's the only smart thing to do, especially if you are innocent. You may say something that you don't mean because they set you up, and you are stressed/anxiety/etc/etc and thinking clear is not easy.

even if it's a public defender.

 

the 200+ passengers... deserve constant vigilance
if it takes one , two or three engineers and electronic monitors and controls then thats what it should have.
there is just no excuse here that is acceptable. If you are going to drive a train, you need to be awake, sober and focused.
(And if they can't do it , then we'll need to get someone who can. )
I'm not ok with an engineer running a train off the tracks.
I am praying this is a mechanical failure or at least an unknown medical problem.

 

You are right, those people did deserve that kind of vigilance. One thing most people don't know about, the more railroads are required to implement safeguards, the more they push for one man crews(engineer only). Not safe at all!

 

Later folks, I'm out! I'm on vacation and too much railroad talk, feel like I'm at work, lol. I'm going fishing!

 

IMO it's not possible to be "focused" for that amount of time.
Sadly, if being "overworked" is what happened...this engineeer is going to take the wrap for the crash, whether he was at fault or not.