Overtaking Train News Today

Not severely injured with bumps and bruises and scratches. as what happened there was a deep ditch there and they brought our team in with lumber to get people across there. where the most severely injured people were and where the train apparently is off the track is out of sight. >> im looking at some video in a preview monitor here. i think we just aired it from -- or some video from derek pettaway. >> yeah, im the guy with the beard and brown coat. >> how close are we to roads and homes and ...

Breaking news. two people dead and 70 taken to hospitals after an amtrak train with nearly 150 people crashed into a csx freight train. this was in south carolina. the amtrak engine derailed after the collision along with several passenger cars. we dont know how many. we have on the phone with us paul kirby of the """lexington ledger." you rushed over we understand and what did you see? >> when i got here ems and firefighters just arriving on the scene. immediately i pulled in as close as i coul...

Hospitals after an amtrak train with nearly 150 people on board crashed into a csx freight train in south carolina. its a suburb of columbia, south carolina. the amtrak engine derailed with several passenger cars and right now we dont know how many passenger cars but we did speak with one of the passengers who was on the rear of the train in a sleeper car saying his with juan of them. >> we know a lot of people who were not injured have been taken to a middle school, pine ridge middle school the...

Or how much advanced notice either of the engineers had before they knew that this could possibly end with this collision, but how long would they need to prevent it? how much distance would they need to prevent it? >> a lot. it takes -- for a regular, you know, a normal configured train, this one is probably about ten cars, this particular train usually is, it takes at least a mile. if the train was going 55 miles an hour, it would take at least -- at least a mile to slow and probably more to s...

Morning that an amtrak train collided with a csx train, your first thoughts. >> well, it highlights the difference between the u.s. rail system and, say, the european system where we have both freight and passenger trains competing for the use of the same track and that has been a problem for years and its one that we have to deal with. it looks to me preliminarily as though the amtrak train may have side-swiped the freight train and because it did not look like it was a head-on collision. there...

Side-swipe wags. ordinarily its a situation where the train is on the track and another train, you know, not very scientific, another train doesnt know it, particularly in the dark. and here i dont believe this track had positive train control on it. csx has 16,000 miles of train track that it has to put positive train control on. they have already spent 1.2 billion, according to their information on their website but a lot of train track they have to do. csx had to put it on -- has to put it on...

The day and investigators get on scene. of course, we do not know any causes or anything like that. but one of the things that we want to stress, because we do have passengers who are on board this train, is that if anybody out there had loved ones that they think might have been on board, they can call 1-800-number that is established by amtrak and that is 1-800-523-9101. gwynne that is 1-800-523-9101. >> derrec, you said we dont have the details about the cause yet but investigators will be on...

That is on the engine and they will do that on both -- both the freight train and the passenger train. and they are going to want -- if the crew members have not been injured, they are going to want to interview the crew members right away. i dont think -- i dont think this will be a -- the investigation may take a year or more, but the preliminary indication of what went on will not take very long. probably within the week or so. >> so, peter, let me ask you about positive train control because...

Derailed. we have on the phone with us public information officer for the city of lexington, mr. cahill. thank you for being with us. can you help us understand what is happening there right now? >> yeah. just to point out, it is the county of lexington, not the city. but what we have right now is we responded to this train collision at about 2:39 this morning. law enforcement, fire, ems, all of them responding in unison and working great together. what happened is we have a passenger train and ...

Preliminary -- has -- has been perennially underfunded over the past decades, and the question is -- are we ever going to get serious about funding passenger service in the united states? >> peter, you mentioned that there is a camera on the front of the train, we will get that or at least investigators will get that. its the middle of the night. actually, early morning now and happened in the middle of the more than at 2:30 a.m. how long do they get that and start to get answers about how and w...