Been folowing this since it happened on 05/07/2015, but due to circumstances (no computer access) I have had to follow it on other ‘news’ resources. Oh, Well.
The Forum members here have pretty well hit most of the high points, but apparently, not all that have been showing up on TV News broadcasts or on radio news sources, out here in ‘The Middle’ of fly-over land.
[I appologise for not pinning down specific names or the sources that have popped up in the aforementiond broadcast resources]
The speculations about the broken cab windshield was reported as caused by everything from ‘projectiles’, meaning potentially, anything from rocks to other peices of manually thrown debris. Most seemed to play diown the aspect of some kind of ‘round’ shot at th window, but it was always intimated that it was not out of the question…particularly, when ‘reporting’ the incident of the SEPTA train being hit, in advance of the AMTK #188.
The other aspect that does not seem to shopw up in the currentFORUM Thread is some of the Engineer’s “Tweeting” ‘habits’. They seemed to report an excess activity on his part of ‘anti-Amrtak’, ‘pro-Union’ tweeting, and that one broadcast, even mentioned suspicions that the engineer’s ‘orientation’ might have had a bearing on his behavior, by inuendo(?). This was all showing up, prior to the engineer’s lawyer making his statements.
There was also some information made about the facts that PTC was active and operable on the ‘down’ side 9South or Westbnd?) of that location of the derailment. Then it was reported that it was ‘in-place’ on the line that the train derailed on ( East or North?). There was also some reportage that the reason it was not in active service, was some problem with FCC bandwith availibility, and a lack of available monies to make the PTC active, an
Would that last point be ‘orientation’ in the case of ‘sexual orientation’, with specific reference to the question of ‘civil unions’? I noticed that innuendo being raised in my local (Memphis) paper, or at least mentioned enough that I noticed it as an overt attempt at innuendo. Perhaps interestingly I have seen nothing (at least, so far) along that line since then. I didn’t note the ‘byline’ on that particular story; in retrospect, I should have.
That’s a weird garbling of the situation. As I understand it, there was plenty of money to ‘activate’ PTC, but Amtrak’s chosen frequencies were reserved for a marine communications service (AMTS) and obtaining an FCC waiver for certain technical requirements for use of that spectrum had been held up until recently. This was covered in the other thread.
For various political reasons, it seems to be expedient to bring up this idea that ‘insufficient funds to implement PTC’ are involved one way or the other. To my knowle
Here is an article dated this date 05/20/15 sourced from the LosAngeles Times:
“Investigators studying cellphone of engineer in fatal Amtrak crash”
bylined: Tina Susman
Accompanying video notes #188’s injured conductor’s lawsuit, and comments by his attorney on the Conductor’s situation in the aftermath of the Wreck of #188. He was in the first car of the train (demolished when it impacted the Catenary Structure ).
The wreck of AMTRAK#188 happend at approximately 920 PM on Tuesday night 02/12/2015…Almost immediately it became a topic on the National Media’s 24 Hour news cycle… Close to a major city with lots of access to the news media.
On Sunday afternoon AMTRAK #59 suffered a fatality crash in Amite.La. A small commuinty in South Louisiana…Have seen no mention of it either here on the Forum or in the national coverage( Limited to what I’d been able to personally see). The collision involved a flat-bed tractor trailer and the fatality was it’s driver; a 35 yr old driver. He apparently had stopped at the crossing and then pulled across in-front of the train.
Similarly, the response was handled by local responders in both locations. The two passengers injured on #59 were transported to local medical facilities. The other 175 passengers were accomodated in a local church til bus transport to NOLA was accomplished.
My point is that we seem to only notice the very high profile incidents and fail to even notice others even when there is a loss of life. My interest in the accident on #59 is that I have an old friend and former co-worker of my son who became a locomotive engineer and is now on #59 and #58 between Memphis and NOLA.
I think in is right to discuss the accident at Port Richmond (Philly) area, but it is sort of mind boggling how the original Thread has drawn interest on this Forum. What I would hate to see is the public ‘trial’ in the media as happened in the aftermath of the AMTRAK crash in Jan
Not all incidents that occurr in life are high profile. Multiple deaths in a incident make it higher profile than one with minor injuries. Like it or not, that is human nature.
The Amite accident was a run of the mill, garden variety grade crossing accident. It was tragic in that a life was lost, but it certainly wasn’t unusual. A few recent news items have mentioned it, suggesting a link with the Philadelphia wreck, but the two incidents were so dissimilar that I suspect reporters mentioned it only because they knew so little about railroads that they were stuck for something to say, and mentioned the only other recent news event that had anything to do with railroads. In the same vein, a freight derailment in Pittsburgh was also mentioned in the same way. News media striving to make a connection where there is none.
I started this Thread with the report of the suspicions that the Engineer of AMTRAK #188 was being investigated for possible use of his cell phone to either ‘text’ or ‘talk’ ? So I include the following:
Today this following article poped up on an MSN News feed. This latest article might be called ‘as the stomach churns’?
“investigators:Was Amtrak engineer using cell phone when train crashed?”
The Washington Post by Ashley Halsey III
FTA:[snipped]"…Bostian told investigators that he had no memory of what happened immediately before the crash.
“Inward-facing cameras would help fill in those gaps,” Hart told the committee.
_further remarked by(FTA)[snipped]:"…_Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, first said the cameras were “un-American” and then clarified the union’s position after coming under fire from committee members.
“There are privacy concerns about the storage of [camera] data,” he said. “Nobody wants to see their last moment on earth floating around on YouTube.”[snip]
Chicago seems to be a pretty big town (for the mid-west, you know), but what with all the murders they have out there, and NONE of them makes the news, makes you wonder. But then murders in Chicago do not fit their agenda.
On the South (Westbound) track the speed drops from 120 mph to 50 mph, and so that got prioroty. North (Eastbound) the speed drops from 70 mph to 50 mph, and in any event the train would have handled that curve very nicely at 70 mph, comfort of passengers notwithstanding.
You really do not know what you are saying. “The murders in Chicago” (the total in 2014 was the lowest since 1965, BTW) are headlines and TV news stories daily in Chicago media and frequently in national media.
The Washington Post by Ashley Halsey III