Washington Train Wreck

[modeltrains]

From Amtrak itself in September,

“PTC-ready” locomotives part of Amtrak commitment to safety
WASHINGTON – Amtrak plans to equip approximately 310 locomotives to operate using positive train control (PTC) technology and comply with that federal requirement by Dec. 31, 2018.
...
Amtrak has signed an agreement with Rockwell Collins to implement the company’s ARINC RailwayNet℠ service, a hosted network, messaging and application platform, designed to meet the PTC requirements mandated by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, as amended.

This service will allow the Amtrak fleet to interface with the PTC systems of other railroads when using their tracks for our trains. Under the agreement, Rockwell Collins will initialize the Amtrak fleet to run on 19 different railroads, including commuter and freight routes that host Amtrak services."

https://media.amtrak.com/2017/09/amtrak-prepares-diesel-fleet-positive-train-control/

 

[modeltrains]

Hiatt is a former BNSF engineer who has been working as a railroad investigator with the Bremseth Law firm in Minnetonka, Minnesota, for the past 25-years. He lives in Puyallup, and has spent the four days since the deadly derailment speaking with multiple Amtrak and other railroad employees.

...

Based on what railroad employees have told him, Haitt said the engineer hit the curve at 78-miles an hour instead of 30 MPH because he most likely did not know there was a tight curve ahead.

“They just didn’t know where they were at.”

“These guys were trained in darkness. All of them,” Hiatt said he was told. “They couldn’t get availability to the track during the daytime, so that’s part of the factor.”

Another problem, according to Hiatt’s sources; too many engineers received training at once. “I’ve heard six people were in the locomotive cab, which has three seats.”

https://www.kiro7.com/news/south-so...to-point-a-finger-at-train-engineer/668115816

Hmm, event windows, deadlines, hurrying, agency image before safety ... brings to mind an infamous accident involving a different mode of transportation.

“They were hurrying,” he told KIRO 7. “They had this little, tiny window and they had this December 18th deadline. Deadlines can’t be the dictator of how you do things. Safety has to be.”