It was a macabre scene as in the dead-of-night the hulking, oversized caskets gloomily passed by, destined – in this disturbing and horrifying funeral procession – for the railroad graveyard.
In them three people had died. Scores more were injured “and now we have families that will never, ever outlive this.”
According to Gov. Inslee’s announcement (TNT, Dec.20, 2017, updated 6:34 P.M.) “Amtrak is committed to make Positive Train Control (PTC) operational on trains in Washington as soon as possible, and before the federal deadline on Dec. 31, 2018.”
Just the day before, December 19, The Seattle Times editorial board revealed that “safety regulators have called for PTC systems for decades, but Congress and the U.S. railroad industry have been slow to implement this lifesaving technology.”
Mandated in 2008 by Congress, PTC was required by the end of 2015.
Why wasn’t it then?
Why should the public be sacrificed to a rail system for which the need has not been substantiated; to die because deadlines are not kept; to believe promises – again – that are postponed?
If, in fact, one year from now, PTC controls will in fact be in place, then one year from now Amtrak can then, and should only then, be allowed to fast-track through life-congested neighborhoods.
Until then, they can go back where they came from.
Update: According to “The Seattle Times”, December 21, 3:40 P.M., Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) officials “say they won’t restart passenger service along the rail line where an Amtrak train derailed until ‘positive train control’ safety systems are in place.
Barbara LaBoe, a spokeswoman for WSDOT, said “the state didn’t know when the train control systems would be ready for the new line.”
LaBoe further stated “officials were wanting to have renewed conversations with communities along the new route.”
Further update (Seattle Times, Dec.21, 12:34 P.M.): “Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is seeking a congressional inquiry into Amtrak’s safety practices after Monday’s passenger-train crash near DuPont, Pierce County.
“In addition, Cantwell and 14 other Democratic senators sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, calling on her to hold railroads accountable for failing to implement sufficient safety measures.”
So, Amtrak has indeed gone back to where it came from and the last passenger train along the scenic Puget Sound waterfront wasn’t the last train after all.
Fingers are being pointed in every direction as to who should be held accountable for this tragic accident: Amtrak, Sound Transit, the Department of Transportation, plus others. I don’t disagree with this accountability dialog whatsoever–there’s plenty of blame to go around. But, in the final analysis, the only person who is solely and unequivocally accountable is the engineer. And he should be charged with vehicular homocide. He failed to perform his important duties and as a consequence, three persons of a trusting public lost their lives and many others may encounter lifelong physical and emotional injuries.
Look, when I’m driving and I see a sign that reads “slow down ahead”, I slow down. For that matter, if I can see that the curve ahead requires slowing down, I slow down. Not only did this engineer not slow down, he trained for two weeks on this new run and the sign read “slow to 30 MPH”. As it were, if I’m correct, the only new run that required training is the one from Tacoma to Olympia, and he can’t learn that?
Sorry for the rank, but I’m just disgusted with this whole mess. I’ll never set foot on a train, especially one in Washington state.
Amen.
“…………hold railroads accountable for failing to implement sufficient safety measures.” Let me translate: Bureaucratic gobblygook for no individual pays the price for this disaster except for the families and community so damaged. How much better to state “………… hold the specific individuals responsible for this disaster via criminal charges, civil charges, loss of pay, demotion, firing, fines and any other appropriate legal remedy to compensate those killed and communities damaged by this irresponsible behavior and prevent its occurrence ever again.” We want names, positions and addresses…………be specific. How many times have we heard that “corporations aren’t people” yet when something like this happens it’s corporations that collectively get the blame. Corporations (and government for that matter) are people; in this case the very bureaucrats that pushed this unnecessary waste of tax payer money ($800,000,000 to save 10 minutes off a trip for 70 people on a train), cut corners to do so, and rammed it down the throats of hundreds of thousands of people and communities…………and for what? Does anyone know the names of these anonymous bureaucrats hiding behind the acronyms WSDOT or AMTRAK? This indeed is “Tacoma’s Titanic”: the parallels are too obvious to be just happenstance. The same kind of bungling underlies both disasters with the same results.
The NTSB reported that the engineer was not using a cell phone when the accident occurred. That’s comforting. A report on drugs in his system should be next. Assuming it’ll be negative, this is likely what will happen. He’ll be placed on administrative leave for the next year or two at which time the NTSB will conclude its investigation. He’ll be found to be non-negligent and then reassigned to another Amtrak position. Meanwhile, Amtrak (taxpayers) will compensate those passengers who were injured and to the families of the three men who were killed, on the condition that they agree to release all future claims. And life will go on.
Now, if I was driving my car 50 MPH over the speed limit, caused a large accident in which people were killed and maimed, I can guarantee you that I’d go to jail for a very long time. As John Arbeeny wrote, there’s a woeful lack of accountability in our government. A related case–charges were brought against the Amtrak engineer in the Philadelphia accident of a couple of years ago due to the train travelling at 100 MPH in a 50 MPH zone. Eight passengers were killed.
The presiding judge dismissed all charges based on insufficient evidence.
I’m putting my money on the engineer being criminally charged.
Awesome comments from all. It’s terrible to note that during this tragic event the WSP could not get a response from AMTRAK, as was told in a new’s brief, for two day’s they tried to get someone in charge to respond to this Crash. Then all of a sudden a New CEO appear’s and makes a surprise new’s brief on what’s in store for all involved in the crash. It looks like CYA to me, the old CEO go out on a fast retirement and they hire this new guy form 25yrs in the airplane industry? No experience in the railroad? What the heck is really going on in the upper levels of AMTRAK. The sad facts of this accident will take lot’s of time and PTC should be on every inch of this line. What would this engineer or any engineer do if a herd of ELK came walking down the tracks some day. Wild animals are now becoming part of our lives, we can’t change that, but this train needs to have all kinds of newer changes. Anyone remember the crash at Chambers Creek this year and all the confusion, all the passengers had with getting home! Where was AMTRAK! No where. The Dupont crash, nobody home there either. Thank God for the Army, Firefighter’s, EMT’s Doctor’s ,Nurses, anyone that lended a hand you are God’s blessed children! Thank you all! AMTRAK hold you head in shame, you guy’s really screwed up big time. Now you need to step up and help all those passenger’s for ever, so help you GOD!!
“The sharp 30 mph curve where an Amtrak train derailed in Washington this week was not supposed to be there at all, according to a new report.
An $11 billion Washington State government plan to speed up passenger and freight rail service throughout the Pacific Northwest called for an elimination of the turn. But that request was not included in the final design, once the state won federal funding for the Point Defiance railroad bypass south of Tacoma, Wash., The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The plan was ditched because the turn in question was deemed too costly to remove, the outlet reported, citing documents and state officials.” New York Post
And just when I was getting over the horror of the Steilacoom derailment a few months ago!
Speed kills!
Well, the narrative has begun. An anonymous source, most likely the union, has come forward stating that the engineer didn’t receive adequate training and that he, plus others, expressed their concerns to their supervisors. Plus another source, not authorized to speak publically, is quoted as saying that the fatal overpass, deemed unsafe for high speeds, was to be replaced. However, Sound Transit was concerned about the projected replacement cost and elected not to do so. Since when is Sound Transit concerned about cost?
So here we are. The engineer is not at fault and Sound Transit is not at fault. Who does that leave? Nobody.
There was a conductor in training running the train with an engineer, plus a report of a distraction.
All human error. No fault of the new setup.