Another potential nail in the disgusting Blamestorming from Democrats
(WRAL/AP) The Amtrak train that derailed along the nation’s busiest tracks may have been struck by an object in the moments before it crashed, investigators said Friday, raising new questions about the deadly accident.
National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said an assistant conductor aboard the train told investigators that she heard the Amtrak engineer talking over the radio with an engineer for a regional railroad just before the crash.
The regional engineer, who was in the same area as the Amtrak train, said his train had been hit by a rock or some other projectile. The conductor heard Brandon Bostian, who was at the Amtrak controls, say the same had happened to his train, according to Sumwalt.
The windshield of the Amtrak train was shattered in the accident but one area of glass had a breakage pattern that could be consistent with being hit by an object and the FBI is investigating, he said.
Sumwalt declined to speculate about the exact significance of a projectile, but the idea raised the possibility that the engineer might have been distracted, panicked or even wounded in the moments before the train left the rails at more than twice the speed limit along a sharp bend.
The above article briefly mentions that two other trains were hit with some sort of object. A CNN article describes this in a bit more detail, including a different train being hit by something that made a “loud boom”
https://twitter.com/TheAlfredPrice/status/598306700802793472
Obviously, this is still all speculation, but, it might explain why the train sped up. Though it was still traveling 20 miles an hour too fast for the curve, and even exceeding the speed by 5mph could derail a train.
SEPTA trains traveling through the area — including one of the poorest and most violent parts of Philadelphia — have had projectiles thrown at them in the past, whether by vandals or teenagers, she said. It was unusual that the SEPTA train was forced to stop on Tuesday night.
Interestingly, this is also an area that heavily votes Democrat. Weird, eh? If they were hitting the trains with some sort of object, which sounds more like rocks or something similar rather than bullets, Democrats can think about how their policies created this situation.
The wreck has focused new attention on positive train control, a system that automatically brakes trains going too fast. It is installed on the tracks where the train derailed, but it had not been turned on because further testing was needed, Amtrak President Joseph Boardman said.
Huh. So, the system is there, just not on yet. I love how Democrats jump to conclusions in order to use a tragedy for political purposes, and then their disgusting narrative immediately starts to fall apart.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
50 years ago is train was able to travel from NYC to DC quicker than it can now
The railroad bridge in CT that is used on the NYC Boston service is over 100 years old and trains are only allowed to use it at 10mph
The Norteast Amtrak corridor makes a profit of 500 million but it must support money losing routes through red states or lose all of its fed money
New trains in Europe and China routinely ho 200-300 mph using electricity
In general amtrack makes money on short runs in blue states but loses money running in red states that the GOP demands to keep running
I’m pleased that Republicans have come to their senses (somewhat) and agree with the masses that we need to have an infrastructure Manhattan Project.
For those wondering why the ARRA stimulus program didn’t correct all of America’s ills, here’s the breakdown on allocations:
$288 billion in tax cuts (no railroad help there)
$224 billion in extended unemployment benefits, education and health care (none here)
$275 billion for job creation using federal contracts, grants and loans (now we’re getting somewhere)
Here’s the Senate and House breakdown on infrastructure:
Senate — $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $11.5 billion for mass transit and rail projects; $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers; $5 billion for public housing improvements; $6.4 billion for clean and drinking water projects
House — $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $12 billion for mass transit, including $7.5 billion to buy transit equipment such as buses; and $31 billion to build and repair federal buildings and other public infrastructures
As it turns out, there was 2 billion in the mass transit budget for Amtrak and all other rail systems. That’s about 0.2% of the total stimulus.
Do you really expect us to believe that 38 of 41 Republican Senators voted against ARRA because the total was too low or the infrastructure spending was too little?
This is the rotting infrastructure we’ve inherited from the austerity revolution. The greatest generation built it in the 50s and 60s and we’ve let it slip ’cause rich guy taxes are too high.
The money was approved by Congress and squandered by the incompetent Obama administration,
I have been riding on a Amtrak train that was
hit by rocks, bricks, whatever. It’s jarring when they hit the window near where you are sitting. Looking out the window, you see teenagers along the track, lined up, throwing stuff.