SEPTA Says Commuter Train Hit By Projectile Just Before Amtrak Train Derailed

originally posted by: jimmyx
the republicans in congress just voted to cut Amtrak funds by 250 million dollars today.....(shakes head)...this is why I wouldn't vote a republican in to be county dogcatcher
www.nbcphiladelphia.com...

Out of curiosity, have you read the bill? It was to cut subsidies for NEW rail construction, not maintenance on existing rails.

a reply to: jimmyx

Are you f&ckig kidding me.....this happened because people cut money to a bloated, corrupt and incompetent AMTRAK????


Honestly. Why even keep any money at all. Why not just hand over all money and have the Govt provide every need and want.

You win the dumbest comment of the day award.

it was a warning to tptb ?

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
The train was going 100 miles an hour on a curve by latest info..

Well, that would certainly explain it. That's nuts, though...I've ridden on Amtrak many times in the past, and I'd be surprised if the train ever even got to 100mph any of those times. To do so on a curve is just stupidity.

Just heard the Engineer is alive and conscious, but has lawyer-ed up and is refusing to answer investigator's questions.
I KNEW he had to be one of those evil Republicans!

a reply to: IAMTAT

It's all because the lack of funding.......

a reply to: macman

there's never enough 'taxes paid' to fund some of the projects that come up for approval by politicians
just like there wasnt any money to fund a space program anymore
the military gets 'carte blanc' to buy new vehicles and fighter jets but not anything to help the civilians living in metropolitan areas

originally posted by: WeRpeons
Does anybody know if the high speed trains in Japan can easily be derailed like the old slow speed trains here in the U.S.? Just wondering if they've ever had problems with derailments like we've had in the U.S.. I still can't believe the U.S. is still behind other countries when it comes to high speed rail systems.

Why? The railroads tried to do passenger service for a long time but kept losing money from it because of planes (and the government subsidies airlines get). So they decided to drop passenger service all together, and focus on freight long before high speed trains ever became a thing.

Aren't those high speed trains subsidized?

originally posted by: pfishy

originally posted by: jimmyx
the republicans in congress just voted to cut Amtrak funds by 250 million dollars today.....(shakes head)...this is why I wouldn't vote a republican in to be county dogcatcher
www.nbcphiladelphia.com...

Out of curiosity, have you read the bill? It was to cut subsidies for NEW rail construction, not maintenance on existing rails.

This right here. Amtrak and CSX/Norfolk Southern have agreements to allow Amtrak to use their lines, so they don't really need to build more lines.

originally posted by: blacktie
a reply to: macman

there's never enough 'taxes paid' to fund some of the projects that come up for approval by politicians
just like there wasnt any money to fund a space program anymore
the military gets 'carte blanc' to buy new vehicles and fighter jets but not anything to help the civilians living in metropolitan areas

They get plenty of help. And there is money to fund a space program, how else do you think NASA gets its astronauts on Russian craft?

a reply to: blacktie

Hey, I want ALL Govt spending reigned in.

Certainly another good reason for Keystone XL Pipeline; Trains have accidents.
I imagine progressives would be a lot less vocal about more spending, if the train had been shipping oil instead of people.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
Certainly another good reason for Keystone XL Pipeline; Trains have accidents.
I imagine progressives would be a lot less vocal about more spending, if the train had been shipping oil instead of people.

Apparently, the Amtrak derailed train was shot at...in addition to two other trains in the area and around the same time.

Amtrak Train May Have Been Struck Before It Derailed, Officials Say

PHILADELPHIA — An assistant conductor on the Amtrak train that derailed on Tuesday believes she heard the engineer tell another regional train operator in a radio transmission that the train had been struck by something just before the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

At a news conference on Friday, Robert L. Sumwalt, the safety board official who is leading the investigation, said the F.B.I. had been asked to examine what he described as a fist-size impact area found on the lower left side of the train’s windshield. Officials said that the F.B.I. had been called in because it has the forensics expertise needed for the investigation, but that it had not yet begun its analysis.

Amtrak is ahead of most railroads in installing automatic speed control systems.Amtrak Says Shortfalls and Rules Delayed Its Safety SystemMAY 14, 2015

Officials at the site of the derailed Amtrak train in Philadelphia on Thursday, the day the body of an eighth victim was found.Brandon Bostian Agrees to Talk About Amtrak Derailment but May Recall LittleMAY 14, 2015
Brandon Bostian at an Amtrak station in St. Louis in 2007. Mr. Bostian was the engineer driving the train that derailed on Tuesday in Philadelphia.For Amtrak Engineer Brandon Bostian, Childhood Passion Became a CareerMAY 14, 2015

A vigil for Derrick Griffith, acting dean of student affairs at Medgar Evers College, at the college in Brooklyn on Thursday.Eight Amtrak Passengers’ Deaths Echo Across the Region and the WorldMAY 14, 2015
Mr. Sumwalt said investigators had interviewed three crew members, including the engineer, whom they said was “extremely cooperative” and displayed good knowledge of the proper procedures and speeds for the rail line. He said the engineer had not been fatigued and was not ill.

“He recalls ringing the train bell as he went through North Philadelphia Station, as required,” Mr. Sumwalt said. “He has no recollection of anything past that.”

The assistant conductor, however, who was working in the cafe car, heard the engineer talking to his counterpart on a SEPTA regional line, who said his train had been “hit by a rock or shot at,” according to Mr. Sumwalt. The assistant conductor said she thought she heard the Amtrak engineer, Brandon Bostian, reply that his train had also been struck.

A photograph provided by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority shows the shattered windshield of one of its trains, which was struck by a projectile shortly before an Amtrak train derailed on Tuesday.
“Right after she recalled hearing this conversation between her engineer and the SEPTA engineer, she said she felt a rumbling, and her train leaned over and her car went over on its side,” Mr. Sumwalt said.

SEPTA — the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority — said earlier this week that an “unknown projectile” had struck the engineer’s window of a train from Trenton at about 9:10 p.m., shortly before the Amtrak derailment. No injuries were reported, but the train was held at a nearby station because of the damage.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that another Amtrak train was struck on a coach window about 30 minutes before the crash, before the regional train was hit.

The train that derailed, Amtrak’s Northeast Regional train from Washington to New York City, was traveling over 100 miles an hour, more than twice the speed limit at that point, when it left the tracks, killing eight people and injuring more than 200.

www.nytimes.com...

a reply to: IAMTAT

I just read this , could this be a terrorist act? it seems nobody has taken the blame yet.

This is big news.

So this train, and others, may have been shot at? Hmmm... Sounds like a couple of guys who were up to no good, started making trouble in the neighborhood.

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

The way the passengers and engineers describe it sounds like a gunshot, possibly armor piercing. There were 3 separate trains involved, and were struck at different times. One passenger interviewed by CNN said that, "After the train was struck his window was cracked into a circular pattern, and the engineer hit the E-stop." Moments later they were passed by the train that later derailed.
An isolated incident makes no since, kids throwing rocks or debree wouldn't cause such alarm.
The one engineer of the derailed train has no recollection of the crash or the time leading up to the crash, about 3 miles out.

Sounds to me like either Terrorism, a Disgruntled employee, or Aliens.

This seems like a perfect case for Mulder and Scully to start fresh on, haha

CNN Link

It seems investigators are now seriously considering there may have been a shooter in the area at the time, who had been targeting trains.

Sumwalt said the information about a projectile came from an assistant conductor, who said she heard Amtrak engineer and the engineer from a nearby Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority regional train talking just before the derailment.

Sumwalt said she recalled hearing the regional train driver say his train had been hit by an object and then Brandon Bostian, the Amtrak engineer, say his train had been struck, too.

The derailment shattered the Amtrak train's windshield. But Sumwalt said there were concentric circles on the lower left corner of the glass.

The NTSB said there also was another Amtrak train — this one headed south — that had a window shattered in the same
area around the same time.

apnews.myway.com...

a reply to: IAMTAT

very strange indeed
maybe as strange as the missing jumbo jets

a reply to: jimmyx

"Never let a tragedy go to waste" , huh.

it MUST be the GOP's fault!

Typical liberal Dem view of the world, what a sad way to think..