Page 28 - Train Control News Today

Similar type accident and they should have had positive train control there at that time. they do now. we cant continue to wait until theres an accident before we put the mandates that congress has put in place. >> what more do you know about the amtrak engineer? he apparently has been extremely cooperative, he has smichted blood submitted blood test answering as many questions as he possibly can. unfortunately, he just doesnt remember the actual accident. he doesnt remember taking the train up ...

Speeds is in place but why not on the busiest rail corridor? >> yeah i mean, amtrak is sort of a net with a lot of blame to go around. the capital expenditures are underfunded, but one of the biggest hurtles is a bureaucracy to make it hard to spend money. the amtrak has been trying to finish its positive train control in the northeast corridor, which is the one place it is really needed for several years now. and it got bogged down because no one had authority to get the wireless service from t...

Scenarios of what could happen and then we stipulate whether kind of corrective action or counter measures to be taken against that condition. now, what has happened here, even if we dont get testimony from this engineer, he may not be able to recall due to head injury or something else. the thing is, were still going to have to have some kind of measure if something was thrown in the way of there train. thats what we have to do. >> what do you plane by that, dr. gross? >> well, for example if t...

Independently confirmed with this information but we have seen damage to the left-hand lower portion of the amtrak windshield that we have asked the fbi to come in and look at for us. >> joining me now former chairman of the ntsb, jim hall. jim, with a welcome to you, what do you make of this report that perhaps something hit the trains windshield before the crash? >> well, alex, its another piece of information, important, obviously, to the investigation. but it does not negate the fact that po...

This trant, which then distracted the engineer? >> yeah. it was a new train. the train had only been in service for just over a year. >> yep. >> so we are looking at the mechanical aspects of this and certainly with the cameraened a the black box on the train, we expect to have a full investigation-of-this. you know such a horrific accident. you know people are going to demand answers. the family members that lost loved ones are going to demand answers, and we need to make sure this full investi...

These curves. the mandate comes after the amtraks c.o. he deeply apologized and admitted and took full responsibility for this crash that killed eight people. he said his company had the positive train control, that technology that stops the train automatically without the engineer having to do anything they had it installed on this curve but that through budget shortfalls and through for whatever reason bureaucracy, it wasnt ready. it was not ready to be tested. so it was there but just not in ...

Again, he -- you know, if you want to understand an organization, thats where the money flows, and he was in charge of that. he is also known as the sheikh of energy. isis trying to make a lot of money through selling oil. this is a -- while he might not have been at the point of the spear, he is the guy who the intelligence we get and, of course debriefing his wife if she knows stuff that this is going to be a real problem for isis. >> im going to ask you this. we need about a 30-second answer,...

By amtrak oh, there is an interveneing cause, and they would argue that it is not the engineers fault here and it was an intervening act that really caused the train to derail, but i think that it would be a really real areally weak argument, because you have to explain how the speed increased so quickly and the best argument is to defeat amtrak using that as a defense is, look you have known for 20 years about the positive train control which you talked about, and the the brakes would have auto...

Infrastructure. tom foreman has a look at where both sides stand on the issue. >> reporter: almost from the moment that train crashed in the darkness, the battle lines were growing bright. democrats saying this wreck would not have happened if funding for infrastructure and safety equipment were not political footballs. >> the republicans have been very much against amtrak for a very long time. >> reporter: and republicans furiously hitting back. >> listen, you know, they started this yesterday....

Infrastructure if they thought this was so important, why didnt they report that? you have a place in this, too. i just think that before the facts are out there, we cant assign the blame. the train was going twice the speed limit. it could have gone 80 miles an hour and you might have lost a drink but going 102 miles an hour in a 55-mile-an-hour zone, what did you expect would happen? poor decisions are poor decisions. 2,000 trains run up and down that train every day. 200 million people ride o...