Page 21 - The Engineer News Today

Two years ago a metro north train derailed in new york after going into a curve at nearly three times the speed limit. right after the "today" shows jeff rosen showed us technology could have prevented it from happening. >> state-of-the-art collision avoidance technology. >> its called positive train control, or ptc. a sophisticated system of sensors on the rails and inside the locomotive even using satellites to track the trains movements and prevent many accidents caused by operator error. if ...

When you look at just how horrific and mangled that metals is to try to figure out how this happened wolf. >> have they been able to speak with the conductor, kate? >> thats a big question. the mayor said -- a im hoping to get an update on that as well at the 2:00 briefing. the mayor said the conductor, the engineer, was somewhat injured and was going to speak or has spoken with police investigators. thats clearly a big question and will be a big focus of the investigation, what the conductor kn...

Correct, but the first thing theyre going to look at is how fast was this train going for the track it was on. >> if it was going too fast around that curve, is that a human error, conductor, the engineer or some other problem potentially? >> it could be any number of things, but you start with human performance. was the conductor, was the engineer operating the train appropriately leading up to the turn was he applying the brakes ape lately was there any kind of failure in the braking system th...

Even more trag whick you think about that passenger who told us how enraged and infuriated he is that when was caused by speed. tonight investigators are looking at the engineers actions. along with the track. to try to understand why this train, which was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members, was traveling so incredibly fast. tom foreman is "outfront" live in the virtual room. tom what have you been able to learn as you piece this together second by second about how exactly this crash ...

Fundamentally changed the lives of those impacted by the faulty ignition switch. >> reporter: 15 gm employees, including senior executives, fired. five others disciplined and evidence the ignition problems were flagged as early as 1999. the engineer, who designed it, called it the switch from hell. but the investigation found no evidence of a cover-up and cleared barra of any wrongdoing. a point shes stood by since the beginning. >> you claim that never once did this ever cross your desk in the ...

In front of their eyes. they feared the ledge was about to fall to the ground. >> because you can see through it obviously, you have the psychological effect that, you know, oh, my gosh, something broke. nobody was ever in danger. >> reporter: the engineer, michael swanberg, says theres a thick panel of glass that didnt break. designed to withstand 10,000 pounds, or 5 tons of weight. we watched as crews replaced the thin layer above it that caused such a scare. so this is the new sheet of glass ...

A general motors engineer signed off on a change to ignition switches in cars that have now been recalled, even though he testified last year he was not aware of the change and didnt remember approving the change. how extensive do you think the duplicity, i guess you could call it, has been among general motors representatives, people who have been charged with giving information to capitol hill and to regulators about the state of these cars? >> i think what ive seen so far has been a very care...

For everybody. >> and make yourself popular and say also the crew out there, the shooter, the engineer. they are working hard, as well. >> reporter: theyre awesome. >> decklynn has got the right idea, the snow angels. hell be out there for a while playing in the snow, huh, don? >> reporter: yeah, im going to have some fun. enjoy it while i can. >> good to see you. thats great. made the most out of it, didnt he? is. >> of course. i used to cover snow for years in boston. they just have fun. they ...

Threaten all of the progress u.s. automakers have made if we dont watch out. automakers directly employ 1.7 million people in design, the engineer, build parts to assemble cars in this country. u.s. suppliers support another 3.3 million workers. and car dealers support 1.5 million people in this country, both directly and indirectly with spin-off jobs. the tpp includes japan, which uses discriminatory trading practices in the automobile market. japan ships 200 cars to america for every one they ...

University historian about the bizarre political climate where congress simply passing a budget seems like progress. >> i think thats absolutely true. thats how bad the situation has become. what should be routine, what should be normal has now become a subject of fierce, political debate and gridlock. the hope is by passing this budget, they might have taken the issue off the agenda for a few months for congress to deal with other issues. >> that was my next question. is there going to be a big...