Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia
- Thread starter nutfromSEC117
- Start date
Not sure what he really has to do with anything, but apparently Senator Schumer was reporting earlier that this derailment does seem "accidental" with no sort of outside foul play involved.
Trains have some very extreme physics at work, regardless of speed, etc. Even so, some of the images they've shown are quite striking - the snapped and twisted catenary pole, the Amfleet car twisted into the shape of a C, the derailed and separated ACS-64 locomotive (which is less than two years old).
As an aside, I can't stand some of the cluelessness of news reporting these days. Will be very interested to hear the results of the investigation.
I get I have no clue how the internal investigations work..but they "ruled out" terrorism very quickly. Just don't get how..with the darkness, chaos, etc. All the Philly officials were saying they have no idea what happened..it's a disastrous scene..etc.....
Just seems weird. But what do I know?
FBI hasn't ruled out terrorism. They said there is nothing SO FAR to indicate terrorism.
They reflexively "Rule Out" terrorism immediately in every event. The terrorism is bad for politicians and government drones.
A dear friend of mine was on that train...we just got the news that he was one of the people killed. Prayers to his family, we are devastated.
Sorry for the loss of your friend. A devastating tragedy for all the victims and their family.
Sorry for your loss, and condolences to all your friend's family and loved ones. A really tragic situation, very sad to hear lives cut short.
scottydont, so sad to hear this. My youngest son takes the train into the city everyday, and that's the last thing I think about. Mostly what delays are there, and how late to hold dinner for him. This really puts everything into perspective. There's no way to stop terrorism on mass transit,since to check everybody would parallelize the city. Hoping this isn't the case.Prayers to everyone involved and affected.
Amtrak train crash: Derailment happened on same stretch of track as 1943 Franklin Junction disaster
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...e-curve-as-the-amtrak-188-crash-10245896.html
Looking at the pictures on NJ.COM, it certainly appears that way. The train appears to have kept going straight instead of turning similiar to the one in NY last year, which was due to excessive speed.
You couldn't pay me to travel on U.S. railroads. They are worse than a disaster - they're a national shame.
At this point, given the readily available technology at hand, there's no reason why trains should be "driven". The fundamental mode of operation lends itself to complete autonomy.
At this point, given the readily available technology at hand, there's no reason why trains should be "driven". The fundamental mode of operation lends itself to complete autonomy.
Care to elaborate on this statement? Thats quite the generalization, and in my opinion, completely false.
That "available technology" that you speak of (Positive Train Control) is being implemented across the country by railroads, as part of a federal mandate. Whats more, a form of this technology (known as ACSES) has been in place for years on the Northeast Corridor.
Obviously something or someone royally screwed up somewhere, but to say that the National Rail System is a "national shame" is off base.
Full Disclosure - I was a regional director for Telvent Abengoa for 2 years. So yeah, I know this stuff.
And clearly you have an affinity for rail, which is fine. I can relate to that. But if you compare our national rail system with more advanced systems, globally, we are in sad shape.
Yesterday's accident is a good example. The right-of-way in that area was designed and built when trains had a top speed of 45 mph (hence the 50 mph speed limit on the curve in question). From an infrastructure perspective it makes zero sense to try and run (our lame version of) high speed trains on tracks that are so severely constrained. And, as I'm sure you're aware, Frankford Junction isn't a characteristically unique stretch of track. There are numerous similar stretches throughout the northeast corridor.
Overall, you largely made my point for me. Positive Train Control is "being implemented" - but it isn't implemented yet and its full implementation deadline of EOY 2015 has been characterized as "impossible" by at least one recent rail traffic study. At the same time, the minimum mobility standards specified by the legislation (enacted in 2008, in case anyone is interested) are just that - they're minimal. The capabilities of the product we sold back in '09 - '10 in places like Brazil, Spain and China (called SmartMobility) vastly exceeds the current PTC threshold.
Bottom line, when your fastest rail service averages less than 100 mph and you're still killing passengers because somebody managed to double the capability of a 50 mph stretch of track, then yes -- I call that an embarrassment.
What would it cost to redo the entire north east corridor with the most up to date technology?
Unfortunately it's not just about the technology (but for the record, the PTC implementation mentioned above carries a roughly $9 billion price tag). It's as much about the right of way as it is about the technology. In other parts of the world, true high speed rail runs on dedicated infrastructure which has the advantage of being mostly straight and unimpeded. Curves, where required, are long-radius and banked, so that the trains don't really have to slow down for them. To meet that standard, we would have to actually rebuild the entire northeast corridor. I know that feasibility studies have been done, but I don't know what the specific numbers are, other than that they're staggering.
The thing we have to remember is that rail technology isn't really analogous to, say, automobile technology. When it's all said and done, the steel rails and the wheels that ride on them are pretty much the same, from a design perspective, as they were 100 years ago. Making trains go faster is, for the most part, all about making the tracks straighter and smoother, and removing the potential for collisions (i.e., dedicated tracks, no grade crossings, etc.).
25 years ago, I worked for a guy named Gerry O'Neill. He was a physicist who is credited a with number of innovations, among which was the maglev train. Gerry's concept for maglev went beyond the current implementations in places like China, however - he envisioned a coast-to-coast maglev rail line which ran in an evacuated tunnel. Without wind resistance, and leveraging the high-energy, low-friction capabilities of magnetic levitation, the train would be able to travel at 2400 mph.
Now THAT is high-speed rail.
So very sorry to hear this. My wife takes that train 2-3 times a year. I'm a little spooked today.
The Democrats hate infrastructure. Dems take money from bridge/highway tolls and spend it on stadiums for billionaires. Dems also take infrastructure money and spend it on public housing for lazy criminals who destroy schools.
Well, I wasn't going to go there, but... The reality is that a major - very major - government investment in transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges, rail) would put an awful lot of people to work.
The challenge is that based on the completely fictitious government accounting of unemployment, we don't actually need jobs.
Just found out my co-worker's wife was on the train, in the 3rd car. She got out of it with cuts and "wicked" bruises - he was driving home on 80 at the time she called him (they live in NYC), so he headed down the NJT and picked her up. I told him he should get her checked out by her doctor up here, as those bruised areas could have deep trauma under them.
I thought all along that that would have been a great target for the stimulus funds.
The sadness of the whole TARP / Tiger Grant thing is that the overwhelming majority of the money was outright stolen by the states. The basic requirement that the money be used for "shovel-ready projects" meant that, by definition, those projects were already funded. So the states took the federal money, allocated it to the previously-funded projects and moved the original funding back into their general funds to cover deficits. Not one single thing was done that wasn't going to be done, anyway. Not a single job was created.
Latest posts
-
-
FB Recruiting Four-Star RB Antwan Raymond commits, reclassifies to 2024
- Latest: willisneverrana43
-
