Page 23 - Train Control News Today

Why is that? >> right. so the ceo of amtrak just gave a conference call to reporters and i do, you know, it was troubling because that question was asked and he did not answer it at first. he was pushed and he finally answered that there was no positive train control on this track. and for people who dont know what that is, essentially its technology that automatically slows down a train if its going too fast, faster than what the speed limit is. >> in a curve in particular. this was a curve in ...

Their aces system which is basically a version of positive part train control on the curb outside of philadelphia. the track in this accident i believe is on union pacific and i suspect, in fact i am pretty sure, the positive train control has been implemented on that track. about a year ago, they had a completion of most of their positive train control in the western part of their system. the amtrak train wouldve been equipped with the same equipmen equipment. >> marie: for our viewers, describ...

Allows for automatic braking should there will any sort of train to train collision possible or excessive speed or misaligned track. all of that is supposed to have been avoided with positive train control. its going to be a high priority for everybody involved. >> was this upgrading of old track and what kind of equipment? they dont go as fast as they could go. you know better than anyone because the track is so old. how new is this track and how new is the equipment. is it canadian made. >> to...

Did it function properly, not only the locomotive but the brakes. positive train control, we know that this train was apparently equipped with positive train control but by one account that wasnt supposed to be activated until next year, so how is it possible that this brand new line in which they were putting new locomotives on, they were running trains without ptc when its been proven across the country to being a key to preventing accidents. so theres a lot still to be done on the forensics e...

When a high speed train goes into a curve over an interstate as is the case right here, is it up to the conductor to slow it down or is it automatic? >> in this case i dont know if there is a positive train control. we dont know what the track was rated for. its up to the engine to make sure he is operating within the quite lines and to make the correct decisions. how were people injured and how were they killed? were these cars designed correctly? did they perform the way they were supposed to?

Couple of decades old. it could easily be installed without all the bells and whistles of positive train control. think of it as my house is on fire and i need to call the fire department, do i need the iphone 15 or can i pick up a landline and call? >> sandra: what can you tell us about the age of the train we are looking at and condition of the tracks on which it was traveling? >> let me say this. judging from the pictures i have seen, its a fairly new locomotive. i cant tell the cars, the tra...

Heard about the coming around the corner. listening to a media briefing led by amtrak president richard anderson. jo what do we know? >> reporter: pretty big news out of this. tom from nbc news asked a question about positive train control, whether or not it was implemented, and there was a one-word answer, no. and the reason that that is interesting and that matters in this situation is ptc or positive train control here can prevent train collisions, prevent derailment caused by excessive speed...

There was talk about positive train control and i dont know if positive train control was in effect in this particular spot. >> remind people, john, what that is. >> people dont remember. >> positive train control, it came up in the amtrak derailment in philadelphia. we consider it an angel on our shoulders out there on the track and its our backup and our safety net. in case you, for some reason, become displaced and you dont see the curve coming or you dont see the spot where youre supposed to...

Say 40. so that would have a huge difference on the investigation. with this many cars derailed. with this report there are additional cars on the ground upside down and mangled. one would expect a fair amount of speed on that train. you think it would be moving at a good clip. a higher rate of speed. the speed will be an issue. the guardrails and the warning and the track itself. who owns it and what the maintenance was and whether it had positive train control. if it was going 81 miles an hour...

Aerial view i could get a better idea of the dynamics of the derailment because that will indicate the speed of the train to some extent. >> sandra: marie harf, you seem to want to jump in with a question. >> marie: this reminds me a little bit of the 2015 derailment we saw around philadelphia, from what ive been looking at, amtrak had 11 safety recommendations given to them after that, it killed eight people, 200 were injured, it turned out it was engineer failure but the train didnt have posit...