Philadelphia Amtrak train derailment

[Ns1]

Well that engineer did decline to give investigators an interview so it's pretty hard to figure out what happened. All signs point to sketchy as fuck.

 

[Ruptga]

Well that engineer did decline to give investigators an interview so it's pretty hard to figure out what happened. All signs point to sketchy as fuck.

A train derailed and killed a fifth of the people on board. I'd think sketchy circumstances are pretty much a given.

Oh and, BRAKES slow a moving vehicle, if you fuck that up then it's you that BREAKS. Get it right you philistines

 

[CZroe]

If speed was the issue, then the crash wasn't an infrastructure problem.

We can't possibly know that at this point. Perhaps the sign was gone or some other waypoint that is supposed to tell him when to slow down wasn't functioning. Perhaps the normal brakes weren't working and some procedural thing, like responding to a notification from another system caused him to miss that until it was too late. It could be a myriad of things. Watch just about any crash investigation documentary.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Well that engineer did decline to give investigators an interview so it's pretty hard to figure out what happened. All signs point to sketchy as fuck.

Guaranteed lawyers orders. Of course he's going to decline. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Why would he start spitting out details aimlessly? Of course each side will have their own stories, but you don't pay a shit ton of a money for a lawyer and then not listen to him.

 

[Deeko]

a train derailed and killed a fifth of the people on board. I'd think sketchy circumstances are pretty much a given.

Oh and, brakes slow a moving vehicle, if you fuck that up then it's you that breaks. Get it right you philistines

7/238 != 1/5

 

[allisolm]

How convenient. The engineer has no memory of the crash or what led up to it. At least that's according to his attorney, which he was lucid enough, apparently, to hire. :hmm:

 

[brianmanahan]

i wonder if he could get the death penalty if it was his fault

 

[cabri]

We can't possibly know that at this point. Perhaps the sign was gone or some other waypoint that is supposed to tell him when to slow down wasn't functioning. Perhaps the normal brakes weren't working and some procedural thing, like responding to a notification from another system caused him to miss that until it was too late. It could be a myriad of things. Watch just about any crash investigation documentary.

Unless this was the first time on the route; he would have known the signs and speed for the route.

With the exception of the brakes not working (the black box will tell if he tried to apply and the acceleration locations once leaving the station) there is only the speed and/or the bed conditions.

And the fact the speed was well above safety limits ...

 

[Ruptga]

7/238 != 1/5

I had read ~50 in an earlier article. Whatever, the point still stands.

 

[CZroe]

Unless this was the first time on the route; he would have known the signs and speed for the route.

We have no idea how actively he was aware of it's position. There are many little things that throw a wrench into my daily commute. Even if he out-right fell asleep, it could have been fumes or carbon monoxide or something. It's simply way too early to know.

With the exception of the brakes not working (the black box will tell if he tried to apply and the acceleration locations once leaving the station) there is only the speed and/or the bed conditions.

Key word is highlighted.

And the fact the speed was well above safety limits ...

I read that the speed limit dropped from 100 to 70 to 50 relatively quickly. Even if I hadn't read that, I wouldn't assume that it didn't. If, for whatever reason, he wasn't aware of the upcoming turn, it stands to reason that he probably missed the speed limit change. That change is very likely what would typically make the engineer aware of the upcoming turn.

 

[Kaido]

Well that engineer did decline to give investigators an interview so it's pretty hard to figure out what happened. All signs point to sketchy

Seems strange that they wouldn't have something like Predictive Powertrain Control onboard:

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/con.../Driveline/gearbox/predictive_powertrain.html

Looks like it'd be pretty easy to set that up as a kind of GPS-based deadman's switch & have it do a terrain-based speed governor.

 

[Deeko]

Seems strange that they wouldn't have something like Predictive Powertrain Control onboard:

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/con.../Driveline/gearbox/predictive_powertrain.html

Looks like it'd be pretty easy to set that up as a kind of GPS-based deadman's switch & have it do a terrain-based speed governor.

Amtrak is in the process of installing that on the NEC. It's in certain areas, that is not one of them yet.

 

[boomerang]

How convenient. The engineer has no memory of the crash or what led up to it.

Yeah, that's setting off a few alarm bells for me too. Don't these guys have a way to communicate with whomever is watching the path of all the trains? I can't think of the name of that position or authority at the moment. The point is that if the train was out of control the engineer should have been advising someone of that and perhaps in a very excited manner. Accounts are, and I understand we only know so much now, that the brakes were applied after the train entered the turn. That's obviously kind of late at 106 mph. Something was keeping the engineers mind occupied until that moment.

 

[kranky]

Yeah, that's setting off a few alarm bells for me too. Don't these guys have a way to communicate with whomever is watching the path of all the trains? I can't think of the name of that position or authority at the moment. The point is that if the train was out of control the engineer should have been advising someone of that and perhaps in a very excited manner. Accounts are, and I understand we only know so much now, that the brakes were applied after the train entered the turn.

The dispatcher. The dispatcher can not always see in real time the speed of every train. They can see on a display roughly but not exactly where they are. And they can communicate with trains if they or the engineer wishes.

 

[Ruptga]

Yeah, that's setting off a few alarm bells for me too. Don't these guys have a way to communicate with whomever is watching the path of all the trains? I can't think of the name of that position or authority at the moment. The point is that if the train was out of control the engineer should have been advising someone of that and perhaps in a very excited manner. Accounts are, and I understand we only know so much now, that the brakes were applied after the train entered the turn.

Right? Let's string him up already. That 5th Amendment thing is so 17th century, he's hiding something.

 

[cabri]

Yeah, that's setting off a few alarm bells for me too. Don't these guys have a way to communicate with whomever is watching the path of all the trains? I can't think of the name of that position or authority at the moment. The point is that if the train was out of control the engineer should have been advising someone of that and perhaps in a very excited manner. Accounts are, and I understand we only know so much now, that the brakes were applied after the train entered the turn. That's obviously kind of late at 106 mph. Something was keeping the engineers mind occupied until that moment.

The lawyer is stating that the memory loss is due to head injuries. Cell phone was surrendered to the police

also:

Investigators have determined the train was traveling at 106 mph Tuesday night before it ran off the rails along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to just 50 mph.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the engineer applied the emergency brakes moments before the crash but slowed the train to only 102 mph by the time the locomotive's black box stopped recording data.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Damnit... I just read it was my friend at the controls... I can't even begin to understand the shitstorm he's about to go through.

 

[CZroe]

Damnit... I just read it was my friend at the controls... I can't even begin to understand the shitstorm he's about to go through.

As if it wasn't "small world" enough for us already.

 

[Ns1]

Damnit... I just read it was my friend at the controls... I can't even begin to understand the shitstorm he's about to go through.

O_O

 

[Proprioceptive]

O_O

I knew Brandon in college... he spent a ridiculous amount of time in his dorm room playing his train simulator games. Being an engineer was his dream.

 

[Phoenix86]

How convenient. The engineer has no memory of the crash or what led up to it. At least that's according to his attorney, which he was lucid enough, apparently, to hire. :hmm:

I was involved in a wreck with an 18 wheeler at highway speeds. I was a passenger in a car entering the highway, driver lost control and spun out across the highway into oncoming traffic.

We were going ~20 mph ->>>

18 wheeler was going ~55 mph <<<- he hit his brakes and slowed a bit.

Nasty wreck but fortunately everyone was mostly OK. I came out of it with bruises, scratches, and a concussion from breaking the window with the back of my head.

I didn't remember anything from about 4 hours prior to the wreck to about 6 hours after. By the afternoon I was thinking enough to call a lawyer.

Sure, it's extremely convenient, he's likely at fault, but it's also realistic.

 

[clamum]

Seems convenient that he has memory loss. It certainly can be due to a concussion I guess. It could also be cover for "I was asleep." I agree with Kaido and CZroe though, all of the facts ain't out yet so it's just speculation at this point.

I knew Brandon in college... he spent a ridiculous amount of time in his dorm room playing his train simulator games. Being an engineer was his dream.

Holy cow. Small world indeed!

 

[Proprioceptive]

Seems convenient that he has memory loss. It certainly can be due to a concussion I guess. It could also be cover for "I was asleep." I agree with Kaido and CZroe though, all of the facts ain't out yet so it's just speculation at this point.


Holy cow. Small world indeed!

From talking with a mutual friend, he's devastated and still trying to get his bearings about him. He got knocked around pretty hard. He really was a nice guy and absolutely LOVED working the job he had.

 

[brianmanahan]

if i ended up causing something like that, i would probably be my own judge dredd

 

[CraKaJaX]

Extremely sad:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32740319

All confirmed deaths seem to be people very successful people with a great career and/or future career. To make it worse, 4/6 of them have children. Why does this always happen? It's never any known pedophiles, rapists or murderers. Of course it's the senior VP at Wells Fargo instead. It never fails.... so sad.