Page 33 - Positive Train Control News Today

In crashes, including in this case the engineer. that testimony can then of course not be used in any sort of criminal proceeding. >> you know i dont know the attorney. but im under the impression that somebody does not have to testify to us. thats what im under the impression of. but i want to point out that were conducting an accident investigation. what tom costello is talking about the engineer facing criminal charges, thats a criminal issue. but were not in that business. we want to find ou...

Pedal designed to stop the train if the engineer is unresponsive. >> that was the dead man pedal. if you move you foot off of it just the wrong way, it will start to sound that sound you heard and then it will stop the train. >> while not identical, the commuter and amtrak locomotives are similar. you know how to drive it even if all of the controls arent the same. >> amtrak trains are quite similar to what we see around the country on commuter trains and freight trains. all have the instruments...

Welcome back to "the lead." im jake tapper. breaking news coverage on our national lead. the stretch of track where amtraks train went airborne missing a key meese of technology called positive train technology. all passenger rapes in the united states arethe -- trains are supposed to have this installed by the end of this year. amtraks ceo says it could have prevented this accident from happening. tom foreman is standing by. explain this for us. what does positive train control do? >> positive ...

Actually, we think that there is an option that is even brern have better than having a second person. and thats positive train control. its designed to protect against human error. if the error occurs, positive train control will kick in and control the speed of the train sgrp. >> weve been talking about that and apparently it was installed on metro north trains after people a died. so until were up to speed technologically, doesnt it make sense to have two people up front? >> well, weve certai...

Of the controls of the train. our understanding is he would have been the one in charge of that train going 106 miles an hour in a 50-mile-an-hour zone. thats what investigators say, the speed of the train, 106 miles an hour. as i said double the speed they were allowed to be going in that area. as investigators comb through the wreckage we are learning amtrak actually has the technology available to stop trains from speeding. >> based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system be...

By congress but not fully installed in the united states positive train control would have slowed or stopped the train at the point that it was speeding and we dont know that yet. and i hate to speculate because its just speculation but thats why the ntsb is there, to keep a lid on facts because speculation is the worst thing you can have going on in the background. >> great points there and we are waiting. at 5:00 p.m. well have an update. thank you both so much for your insight today. next we ...

Thousands of people who are familiar and who take this train, this route. and again, if it is indeed the case that there was some sort of incident with a csx freight train, mary how does that happen? >> well it happens because of problems on the track and scheduling the cars on the track and not getting enough information to the engineers of the train. now, that is one of the things that this system called positive train control wont solve all the problems. it cant, for example, an accident of a...

Do you know? >> you know i dont know wolf. positive train control was something we worked on a lot when i was at d.o.t. it was mandated by congress so its actually in the law that positive train control must be implemented not only by passenger rail but freight rail. it is an expensive item but, i know that amtrak was very near to having it implemented close to where this accident took place. im not precisely sure what the reason was that it wasnt -- had not been installed at the time of this cr...

Board. some that had been updated since that terrible and deadly metro link crash in chats worth in 2012. what safety precautions were there? >> they have two different things on board this train. this is what the ntsb will be focusing on. something is called collision energy management. thats what in the report literally the force of the crash. the law of physics, its going to absorb the force and help the train car stay together not crumple. there are a lot of different technologies the depart...

Tell us what it is. tell us why it wasnt here. tell us what it would take to make it everywhere. >> theres actually a system called different things in different countries. we have different systems here, positive train control. it was made the law -- trains were supposed to have that installed by next year. but very few do. amtrak on the northeast corridor from d.c. to boston has it. a few others do. but its a system where the track actually communicates with the train. and it makes if you will...