Wait...
Is your argument that we should let people die, so those rich Silicon Valley guys dont get more money?
Holy shit man.
So how is one exposed to carbon monoxide fumes on an electric train?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amtrak_rolling_stock
Train involved was a Siemens ACS-64 and is power by electricity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cities_Sprinter
So how is one exposed to carbon monoxide fumes on an electric train?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amtrak_rolling_stock
Train involved was a Siemens ACS-64 and is power by electricity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cities_Sprinter
Drowsiness caused by CO or other dangerous fumes wouldn't have to "clear up" for him to hit the emergency brake any more than drowsiness from lack of sleep. When you inhale CO, for example, going outside keeps it from getting worse but it does not immediately revive/restore you. Knowledge of the poisoning and actively trying to stay awake and breathe more in fresh air will help but your body must still replace the damaged blood and that takes time. Someone who doesn't know that they are under the effects but is still conscious will become tired and may doze or otherwise not notice something like a speed limit change well before they pass the point of no return or go unconscious. Not sure why we are even arguing about ONE specific possibility/impossibility out of a million potential scenarios.While it might have impaired the engineer; he did hit the emergency brakes way to late; recordings show a 4 mph decrease in speed.
So, in a time span of less than 10-15 minutes he was impacted by a chemical and then it cleared up in the last 30-60 seconds before the crash? :whiste:
1) The train just left a station 10 minutes previously. The engineer was on the train from Union Station (DC)If my whole point was that there are too many possible explanations to list, why do you think that latching onto one theorized explanation and proving it impossible counters that point? Cute.
Even then, you have proved nothing. The train could've been following behind another train with an undetected leak of any kind of fumes or he could have even been unknowingly poisoned before getting on (I first heard that the train had only been under way for 10 minutes). The whole point it that NO ONE KNOWS YET. He very well may have snuck in a second mobile device and was texting or playing Flappy Bird for all we know, but there is no reason to assume that YET.
Classic bhoener:
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05...blicans-cuts-played-role-amtrak-accident.html
The fact remains, the train didn't have a particular safety measure, a safety measure that would have prevented the crash. It didn't have the feature due to a lack of funds, funds that were cut by...take a guess
This will become more common once our infrastructure gets past the breaking point.
I saw another article yesterday night that explained the discrepancy in the automatic train control system - they were installed in the early 90s, but with budgetary constraints, they only installed it on the southbound track, mainly because there is less room for deceleration as you approach 30th St Station in Philadelphia, whereas the northbound track has a higher-speed zone immediately after the curve.Aside from getting assaulted by Democrat ads from your link, did they bother to actually check if other systems were in place? No, I don't think so. It takes a certain kind of retard to keep latching on to the infrastructure and budget issue.
Here's infrastructure for you:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/inve...-Installed-Philadelphia-Amtrak-303848591.html
The ATC was not installed either when it should have. Is this also because of Boner and the GOP?
I saw another article yesterday night that explained the discrepancy in the automatic train control system - they were installed in the early 90s, but with budgetary constraints, they only installed it on the southbound track, mainly because there is less room for deceleration as you approach 30th St Station in Philadelphia, whereas the northbound track has a higher-speed zone immediately after the curve.
Fair enough if it is budgeting back in the 90s. Was it ever slated to be fixed? There was plenty of opportunity to do something with that particular stretch of track since the 1943 crash in the same spot. The only thing that I saw that they did different was to re-lay the tracks in the area and put it on a bank. It was previously flat which helped cause the crash in 1943.
To keep blaming on the current budget is just as bad as the moron Republicans to keep trying to take out the ACA or gay marriage or any other emotionally charged topic. Go with the facts for now, which we don't have much of except for speeding. Human failure that could have possibly been prevented.
I saw on the Philly news this morning that the PTC was installed but not turned on. ATC has been available for decades and apparently never put in. Place blame where blame is due. To keep pointing at the current Congress is just wrong but it fits the agenda.
Then how does cutting the current budget considering the state of our rail infrastructure, make sense??
Then how does cutting the current budget considering the state of our rail infrastructure, make sense??
Amtrak should consider cutting some of its non-profitable lines first. Why keep dumping money into a money pit? People use the NEC. People don't use a lot of the other lines. 40 or so of the 44 lines are not-profitable.
Apparently Congress feels that Amtrak is not using the funds provided esponsibility - so why continue to provide them. Throwing good $$ after bad concept.
Classic bhoener:
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05...blicans-cuts-played-role-amtrak-accident.html
The fact remains, the train didn't have a particular safety measure, a safety measure that would have prevented the crash. It didn't have the feature due to a lack of funds, funds that were cut by...take a guess
This will become more common once our infrastructure gets past the breaking point.
No the fact remains is that the positive train control system for that segment on track was funded and installed. The train has PTC equipment. Operational status was held up by the FCC.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles...d-off-at-time-of-amtrak-crash-congressmen-say
Plus that track was inspected just hours before the wreck.
If a train is going 2X the safe speed it is going to leave the tracks. Stop trying to politicize this accident. For fucks sake at least wait until the NTSB investigation is complete.
Another idea would be to privatize Amtrak. (but really totally privatize it) This will cause a lot of train routes outside of the northeast and west coast to die, but if states and Congress truly aren't willing to fund them then so be it. No point in burdening those who do use trains to pay for tracks that aren't being used or funded adequately.
Brookings also had an interesting take on how to alternatively publicly fund Amtrak.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Re...uentes tomer/passenger rail puentes tomer.pdf
In the aerospace community when a catastrophic failure occurs we look for "links in the error chain".
Basically for any catastrophic failure multiple errors have to occur before the failure occurs. Generally these are failures in:
(The above examples are just hypotheticals for this situation. Nothing is confirmed yet)
- Personnel - Engineer screwed up sick, impaired, distracted, etc
- Training - Training was incomplete or incorrect for situation
- Procedures - Errors in procedures or instructions
- Hardware - Missing speed control hardware. Other hardware failures
- Software - Software failed to warn engineer of excessive speed
- Risk Management -Management accepted single hazard control, Engineer no backup
Having been involved in few of these efforts I can tell you that even if the engineer is found primarily responsible for the crash he will not be wholly responsible. At the bare minimum we know the automatic speed control hardware is required but wasn't installed yet. There should also be systems and procedures in place to support the engineer.
Yes...
The force is growing stronger in this one.
Could we also do the same with USPS? Both are being abused by congress in pretty much the same way.
USPS is a bit different. Amtrak is seemingly the victim of bipartisan indifference, which would indicate a problem that's really hard to solve legislatively. USPS's fiscal woes stem considerably from a Republican decision to force them into a massive pre-funding of retirement benefits. I think it was a fairly deliberate attempt to bankrupt them.
Where there seems to be a genuine policy failure I am quite open to privatizing them. You don't want to reward irresponsible policy by giving in to it like with usps though.
Not sure where you got that from?
Self driving train would not have been going 2x the speed limit. Software wouldn't let it. It would also replace the train conductor. Of course in exchange for providing such improvement, Silicon Valley guys deserve to get more money. That was my argument.