2 dead as train carrying 147 people crashes into freight train in South Carolina

According to what I am hearing, the automatic centrally controlled traffic control system was out of commission. This happens occasionally, although it is MUCH less frequent now than 20 years ago. All movements were being made under verbal authorities. This practice is common in the US, in fact there are literally thousands of miles of track that don't even have signalling systems installed- never have. We all know how to work under this type of authority, but there aren't any controls to prevent human error and mistakes happen. The failure (if there was a collision, there was a failure somewhere) could have been with a train crew- either the CSX or Amtrak crew- or it could have been in the dispatching center that would have issued the verbal authority. Even verbal authorities are copied on paper forms and since there wasn't a fire there is a good chance investigators will be able to recover those forms and identify what authority the crews thought they were operating under.

I am coming at this not having done extensive research into the accident. I may be mistaken in my understanding of the actual accident, but the procedures are strait forward.

Those who may be interested in looking for underlying causes might be well rewarded to take a look at CSX railroad's recent labor and operating fiascos.

a reply to: Montana

In the last few weeks I haven't been able to get Richard Pryor's gig in the movie Silver Streak out of my head. Esp. "Oh Gawd, I've been 747'd". These things tend to come in threes, and now we have three train wrecks in a couple of months. After snooping on the Du Pont incident, I have found one account giving 7:40 AM for the time of that wreck. If they had been going slower, there wouldn't have been any fatal wreck, and they would have safely crossed that overpass about 4 or 5 minutes later. This is within two or three minutes of the synchronicities from Pryor's, "Silver Streak", movie.

This wreck is 100% on that train's crew members. The Va. wreck is on the refuse truck's driver, except that someone may have dispatched the train, deliberately, knowing it would cross paths with a scheduled refuse run, an hour later. Now, the North Carolina, CAYCE, N.C. again is 100% on that switch crew who locked the siding open to the main line.

Hopefully, this will be the end of this three fer, Hat Trick. Va. may, or may not, be on their railroad dispatcher, but the others definitely are on those RR crews. The refuse truck driver jumped the signals, without putting Chris Foley out on the tracks, to look both ways for any train barreling along. Previously, locals have parked, got out, and directed traffic around those misbehaving crossing signals. The garbage truck was on a schedule, while the Chartered Excursion wasn't.

It cost a 21 year old, new father, his life, because that truck driver didn't stop and let his shotgun rider out, to look first.

a reply to: DerBeobachter

does the gov own the track or does the railroad companies? if companies then they need to divert some of their revenue into fixing their tracks.

a reply to: DerBeobachter

you can be happy if the train arrives only one hour late. But the prices rise and rise

Perhaps the cost of litigation for proving fault adds to the cost?