Page 21 - Train 188 News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

They were on the ground about 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. this morning, 12 hours later they were putting out some very important factual information as a result of getting information from their event recorders or the black box. what was the speed of the train? what was the rating for speed at that curve. and talking about the ptc system and the like. that information came out pretty quickly, but the ntsb personnel indicated, and the board member on the ground they'll have a series of releases of information. we certainly want to have more information before any judgment. there are just some facts here....

Come off the rails, that first car hitting the embankment when it hits the embankment you can see how unbelievably snatched up looks like the impact car, i can't be certain, the shards and fragmented bits that are still embedded in that embankment there. it's not surprising that we have the level of injury and fatality you have. in some ways it's remarkable there were not more. because that is an incredibly short bit of ground to go from 100 miles an hour to zero miles an hour which is it what -- precisely what that train did just in the little -- you can see the few yards from the beginning o...

Been doing for over 100 years, right? >> without a doubt. it's evolved from train safety 100 years ago, where there were no signals, trains relied on their schedule their schedule told them where they should be. if the schedule said you weren't 130ezed to be there, the train that was supposed to be there just assumed you weren't. >> now we have signals, and those signals help -- it's a big improvement, and then of course, we're evolving into positive train control, where we want trains to talk to one another. we want chains to talk to the track. >> i'm glad you brought that up. the ntsb if we ...

Philadelphia is that for some reason, heading into that 50 mile an hour curve, the train was being driven at over 100 miles an hour, and the brakes were applied way too late, only three seconds before the derailment flung those cars off the rails. it would have saved all of those lives in philadelphia. but the system's not in place yet. >> amtrak had been slowly getting that system in piece, getting the funding together. they have positive train control along some of the track. but not everywhere, not philly, not where the train crash happened last night, all of those people died. >> it is not...

In the case of really bad timing, a republican-controlled house panel chose yesterday, one day after the tragic derailment of amtrak train 188, to vote to slash amtrak's budget by a quarter billion dollars. democrats say it's another example of lawmakers cutting corners when it comes to infrastructure. republicans say spending caps are forcing their hand. joining me now, democratic congressman from new york steve israel, member of the appropriations committee. congressman, what a pleasure to see you. >> great to be with you thank you. >> you said yesterday lawmakers are failing the american pe...