4 dead, 63 injured after another NYC-bound passenger train derails

[enhanced_deficit]

3 train derail accidents in last couple of weeks are normal or unusual?


4 dead, 63 injured after NYC-bound Metro-North passenger train derails in Bronx

Officials said seven cars, including the locomotive, tore off the tracks Sunday near the Hudson River while headed toward Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal. Two people were thrown from the rail cars. Gov. Andrew Cuomo visited the scene, while one witness recounted, 'Maybe it was a minute, it felt like an eternity, I just wanted it to stop.'

By Joe Stepansky , Pete Donohue , Edgar Sandoval , Tina Moore AND Bill Hutchinson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Sunday, December 1, 2013, 8:12 AM

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-bound-metro-north-passenger-train-derails-bronx-article-1.1533963



These were recent news reports:

Amtrak Crescent train headed to New York derails in South Carolina

The train had 218 passengers and crew members onboard, but no injuries were reported. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Monday, November 25, 2013, 9:44 AM

WHNS

An Amtrak train heading for New York City derailed early monday morning in Spartanburg County, S.C. Passangers were stuck on the train for more than eight hours.

Related Stories

• 22 injured after Lion Air plane skids off runway and into the sea in Bali

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Several cars of the New York City-bound Amtrak Crescent with 218 people aboard went off the tracks early Monday as bags flew and jolted passengers clung to each other, authorities and passengers said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/amtrak-train-derails-south-carolina-article-1.1528161



Train carrying crude oil crashed and burning in West Alabama

Nov 08, 2013 3:44 AM EST



Derailed train cars smoldering in West Alabama (ab
c3340.com)



UPDATE: Pickens Co. EMA Director Ken Gibson says they speculate that the fire started when the train cars hit each other during the derailment. Several agencies are investigating now, including NTSB, National Railroad Commission and the train owner Alabama Gulf Coast Railroad Systems.


http://www.abc27.com/story/23912869/train-crash-reported-in-west-alabama

​

 

[tod evans]

Hmmm,


More laws?

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Hmmm,


More laws?

Or more review/analysis :

What's going on with planes and trains?? Another big derailment today

 

[tod evans]

Or more review/analysis :

What's going on with planes and trains?? Another big derailment today

Betcha a cyber nickle somebody's going to craft legislation....

 

[Lucille]

The engineer, a 15-year Metro-North veteran, told officials he applied the brakes, but they didn’t respond, a source told the Daily News. The speed limit for the curve is 30 mph.

I'm sure it has something to do with more money being spent on the glorious workers than upkeep. Priorities.

Privatize it.

Amtrak Is a Tax-Sucking Behemoth That Deserves to Die
http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/23/amtrak-is-a-tax-sucking-behemoth-that-de

 

[Dr.3D]

Even if the derailments were "terrorism" related, I'm pretty sure the government would do their best to keep that fact quiet.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Both of you have good points, there has not been much public discussion on this in media it seems.

This was another one in Ohio couple of days ago:

Most Ohio derailment evacuees allowed back home

USA TODAY-Nov 28, 2013
WILLARD, Ohio (AP) — Most of the estimated 425 families evacuated after a train derailment and chemical spill were allowed to return home ...

 

[Root]

Hmmm,


More laws?

More regulations.

 

[Original_Intent]

It's the system we have, and we just have to deal with it.

 

[Dr.3D]

It's the system we have, and we just have to deal with it.

Sounds like somebody with a broken automobile that doesn't have the money to fix it.

 

[acptulsa]

Sounds like somebody with a broken automobile that doesn't have the money to fix it.

Especially if they were dumb enough to trade something reliable in on a Yugo. Or private enterprise in on Amtrak, which is even worse.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Hmmm,


More laws?

Railroads are one of the most heavily regulated forms of transportation out there.

FedCoats have been writing rules for trains for well over 100 years now.

I need say no more...

 

[Anti Federalist]

It's the system we have, and we just have to deal with it.

That, literally, made me laugh out loud.

 

[Anti Federalist]

I'm sure it has something to do with more money being spent on the glorious workers than upkeep. Priorities.

Privatize it.

Amtrak Is a Tax-Sucking Behemoth That Deserves to Die
http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/23/amtrak-is-a-tax-sucking-behemoth-that-de

MTA is state run tax sucking behemoth.

Anthrax dodged a bullet on this one.

MTA
Founder: Nelson Rockefeller

 

[Anti Federalist]

Or more review/analysis :

What's going on with planes and trains?? Another big derailment today

Word that I heard, from the crash in Quebec that set the town on fire, was that the fly-by-wire, everfucking computer controlled, EMD - SD70M-2 locomotive was stopped, braked and unmanned and decided in its little computer pea brain to start up and run away.

I recently read an accident report of a drydocked vessel doing the same thing, just self starting, for no apparent reason, while men were inspecting the propeller, just because its computer brain, god bless it, decided to start the main engine.

Fly by Wire.

Full computer control.

Efficiency! Green-ness! Wave of the future! Get used to it!

Fuck. A. Bunch. Of. Computer. Planes. Trains. Automobiles. Vessels.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Of course, in a sane world, outside of gross and demonstrable negligence, these accidents would be shined on, sadly but realistically, as the cost of doing business.

Shit will happen.

Systems will fail.

Critical components will shit the bed, at the worst possible moment.

You work to mitigate these events, but still.

But we do not live in a sane world.

We live in an insane world, that thinks all risk can and should be reduced to zero, yet still have all the luxuries and technologies of modern living at the fingertips of said insane people.

 

[ronpaulfollower999]

Trains, cars, and planes crash all the time. No conspiracy behind this one.

Derailment happened near MP 11.1. Maximum authorized speed is 75 MPH, but drops to 30 MPH at the curve (MP 11.5). Last I heard the brakes failed.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Trains, cars, and planes crash all the time. No conspiracy behind this one.

Derailment happened near MP 11.1. Maximum authorized speed is 75 MPH, but drops to 30 MPH at the curve (MP 11.5). Last I heard the brakes failed.

More recent innovations are electronically controlled pneumatic brakes where the brakes of all the wagons (cars) and locomotives are connected by a kind of local area network, which allows individual control of the brakes on each wagon, and the reporting back of performance of each wagon's brakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_air_brake

A manual WABCO brake system is just about damn near bulletproof.

Not good enough.

Gotta hang a bunch of fucking computers on a system that has worked flawlessly for over 140 fucking years

 

[better-dead-than-fed]

When I was 8, I was on the Amtrak from D.C. to NYC, and I went to the front, and the guy let me drive the train.

 

[acptulsa]

When I was 8, I was on the Amtrack from D.C. to NYC, and I went to the front, and the guy let me drive the train.

Was a time I'd have considered that scary as hell. No longer.

Better an eight year old than a damned computer.