phill4paul
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A crash involving an Amtrak passenger train and a freight train in Cayce, South Carolina, left at least two people dead and more than 70 injured.
All the passengers have been removed from Amtrak 91, which was operating from New York to Miami.
The crash between the Amtrak train and a CSX freight train occurred near Charleston Highway and Pine Ridge Road around 2:35 a.m. Sunday morning. The lead engine and a few passenger cars derailed, according to Amtrak.
For the 70 or so who are classified as injured, their injuries range from small scratches to broken bones, according to Lexington County public information officer Harrison Cahill.
At least seven people were transported to local hospitals for various injuries. The severity of those injuries, including whether or not they are life threatening, was not immediately known.
http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article198332739.html
It would appear that something is seriously wrong with the way passenger rail is operating in the United States under the federal corporation AMTRAK. This crash is the third fatal AMTRAK crash since the AMTRAK Cascades train derailed in Washington State at the cost of 3 lives and 62 passenger injuries only 49 days ago. Last Wednesday’s crash in Virginia of a train carrying Congressional Republicans to a retreat killed one. And now, the South Carolina crash has killed at least two.
Each of these three accidents had a separate, probably preventable cause, though of course official verdicts await formal proceedings.
The Washington State crash was due to excessive speed going into a curve.
The Virginia crash was due to a garbage truck on a grade crossing being hit by a train. There were some media reports that a crossing barrier that should have prevented access as a train approached was not functioning, but that is not absolutely clear as the cause.
The South Carolina crash was due to two trains being placed on the same track – something that should not happen with the level of sophisticated signaling available to dispatchers.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog..._amtrak_crashes_in_49_days.html#ixzz568yF7AnR