Train derailed outside of Philadelphia

The Associated Press stated earlier that the engineer was seen leaving a police precinct in the area with a lawyer. Knowing Amtrak, they do not have a strict rule when it comes to the usage of personal electronic devices of employees. Even if they do have a policy against cell phone usage. It is not hard to circumvent these measures to use your cellular device.

Something tells me that there is something more than just the speeding that has been reported.

If it were to come out that it was caused by an inattentive engineer. Could it be that he simply misjudged where he was since it was dark? It's one of those "where did it start, how did it start, and why did it happen" cases. He may have been texting or talking on the phone and either missed a signal, misjudged his speed, or his location.

Yes, speed was a major contributing factor in this incident. There are more questions than answers right now. However, the only question I have is this. What other factors caused the engineer to speed around a curve that wasn't rated for the speed it was going at the time of the derailment?

a reply to: KnightLight

Not necessarily, but I'm saying it MAY have been placed on the tracks intentionally, because I don't know of any tractor trailer driver that would EVER stop on the tracks for any reason! That is breaking SO MANY Federal and safety laws! Unless the driver of the trailer was having a health problem like stroke or heart attack or other medical problem, it does look suspect. If that was the case, then there was no conspiracy.

a reply to: KnightLight

Trucks are easy to get stuck. The trailer landing gear hangs down low enough that if there's a bump, or it's an older trailer that doesn't raise as high, the landing gear can bite into the road, and they're stuck.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I didn't think of that. If that was the cause, you can be sure that the government will mandate an update on the landing gear that will PREVENT this. They will also probably make it law to have more stringent maintenance checks on the equipment.

Maybe someone should design landing gear that retracts higher. With today's technology, that should already have been invented. If it has been invented then the companies should update as many as they can.

a reply to: InFriNiTee

As often as it's happened, I'd say probably not. But then again with this FMCSA board I wouldn't be surprised. I don't think any of them have been closer to a truck than being near one than driving to and from work, and one of the heads of the committee lost his son in an accident involving a truck. It wasn't the trucks fault but that hasn't stopped them from screwing us.

After typing that I think I'm gonna have to say I agree, they'll find some way to blame the driver and screw us again.

a reply to: KnightLight

Do you have sources for all of those accidents? If its happening that much, then I don't know what to say. That is a lot of this type of accident in such a short period of time! I do know that these things can truly be accident, but if we see very many more of these events, it will make me wonder about it. Chaotic times we live in!

The only thing I can say is that all the crew that pilot the trains should be as watchful as they can, and try to follow all FRA rules. The FRA already has it in the rules that no electronics are to be used when on duty. They don't enforce it DIRECTLY unless there is an accident, and then if there is an accident of any type they will get the phone records from the employees' phones (then the train company can use that data to blame the accident on the engineer or conductor). I can see that if a cell phone call was involved at ANY time on the trip, the FRA will be cracking down on electronics usage while on-duty.

The worst thing that could happen in the future is this: The railroad companies are working on designing robotic conductors that do the most of the job of the human conductor, and have been for a few years. Once they get that tech perfected and implemented, MANY conductors will be looking for jobs elsewhere. Not long after that, they may even design robotic engineers. They are working on getting the "bugs" out of these machines right now. I predict that by 2022 most engineer and conductor jobs will be no-more if they're fast enough and the FRA approves them after safety testing and all other requirements are met.

a reply to: Zaphod58

That's a good post! You should send a copy of this thread to someone in the FMCSA if you think it might get something done about this issue. Especially if it is determined that the trailer was stuck on the tracks. This is 2015! America can do better than that BY NOW!

a reply to: InFriNiTee

I'm a truck driver, I don't want anything to do with those idiots. Heh. They've already made it harder to do the job, as well as more dangerous.

There are fewer and fewer older trailers on the road every year. They're heavier empty, which means less freight and worse fuel mileage. The bigger companies are phasing them out as fast as they can get new ones delivered.

The newer landing gear raise several inches higher than the older ones, which doesn't seem like much, but when you see an older and newer one side by side it's a visible difference.

a reply to: InFriNiTee

There are thousands of sources.. I didn't keep any, so hold on...

Linky for North Carolina Train dereailment because of Tractor trailer 3/9/2015

Linky California Train crash into Tractor Trailer 2/25/2015

I thought it was interesting that it seems to be a WAY too common occurrence. This makes me think like Zaphod was saying that there is some on going issue, with truck or track safety rather than a plot..

Still the train was going really fast.. I wonder how long it takes to slow a train from 100mph down to 50mph? How long would the conductor have to have missed where he was??

But he's lawyering up, so he's probably working on any excuses that can pop into his head by now.

a reply to: UnBreakable

I find it hard to beleive that a curve rated for 50mph would not have any super elevation.

CNN is reporting that the train was going 106 miles an hour when it derailed and that the engineer hit the emergency brakes right before it crashed.

The engineer operating the Amtrak train that crashed applied full emergency brakes "just moments" before the train derailed, said Sumwalt. The train was traveling about 106 mph as it headed into a left turn where the maximum speed limit was 50 mph, he said.

www.cnn.com...

It makes me wonder if he wasn't spacing out/dozing or if something happened like the throttle got stuck.

Speeding Train 106 MPH

This article list the speeds as 106 MPH for a bend that was rated for 50 MPH.

I don't know anything about trains and how they are regulated so I'm asking those that do...

-Will the black box show the speeds leading up to the crash?

-Will the black box show if the engineer tried to intervene to stop the crash? (or maybe show No response if he was sleeping)

-Is there any way to look back and see if this was an on going problem? Maybe he started at 50 a year ago and kept inching the speeds up?


This is not a little bit over and the speed got away from him or he looked down to read a text. This was a million ton (guessing) silver bullet hurtling at 106 MPH down a track that was not meant to withstand that force.

a reply to: Martin75

After reading about another train being hit by some 'projectile', I'm thinking something similar happened with this one. The other train stopped but this one weren't able too. maybe someone planned for both trains to collide with eachother!

And ISIS put that message on twitter yesterday too saying something would happen on wednesday.

You never know..

But maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there..

originally posted by: TruthxIsxInxThexMist
But maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there..

Or maybe you are avoiding the obvious answer of the train was going almost double the safe speed going into the curve.

The world doesn't happen in separate containers and timelines. Yes another train was hit with something earlier. Yes a different train crashed. Why do they have to be related?

The engineer has confirmed his identity:

The engineer driving the Amtrak train that derailed Tuesday night has been identified as 32-year-old Brandon Bostian.

The attorney for Bostian, a Queens, New York, resident, confirmed his identity to ABC News.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Bostian has worked at Amtrak for nearly nine years, the first half of which he spent as a passenger conductor before he became a passenger engineer in December 2010.

GMA Link

Not saying it was ISIS, but wouldn't be the most shocking headline if a read it.

The black boxes in a locomotive are the same ones that are put in commercial and military aircraft. These black boxes do and will show speed before and right at the time of the crash. With the speeds being measured by the event recorder/black box. It also monitors air pressure and brake pipe pressure and whether or not the brakes were activated before and at the time of the accident. It will also show whether or not if the engineer did anything to intervene to prevent the crash from happening.

To me, the speed issue trumps any talk about something being on the tracks. No cognizant engineer is going to let the train maintain speed like that through a curved area of track.

The train recorder should be able to tell when the throttles were pulled down (and we still do not know anything here). If they were pulled down once the engineer realized the train was going faster than the recommended speed, and that would certainly be early on, before the emergency brakes were engaged... it certainly could point to a defective throttle (or tampered with throttle system).

Going against that, it seems that non-responsive throttles would not take a long time to recognize, and the brakes should have been applied as soon as this was determined.

I do not think the Mayor should have gone on such a rant about inexcusable incompetence, until absolutely all the facts from the NTSB investigation are on the table. Sure, it does not look good for the engineer, however, look presently about how much we do not know.

a reply to: charlyv

speeding at 106 mph, and it just left a station like ten minutes earlier, speed build up really fast

originally posted by: research100
a reply to: charlyv

speeding at 106 mph, and it just left a station like ten minutes earlier, speed build up really fast

That alone is a problem unto itself. Once a train like that hits 30mph, getting to 106 does not take a long time. It will be important to find out the rate of acceleration within that 10 minutes. Was it variable, or steady on? These are also facts that will come out of the NTSB findings, as it will be a part of the recordings as well.