Amtrak derails, Philadelphia, USA

Deadly Amtrak derailment Phila.kmz (915 B)


Ten dead and about 65 injured

Amtrak 188 was headed for New York from Washington, DC, when it derailed at a curve in the Port Richmond area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The accident happened at about 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time with 240 passengers on board.  There is no news about what may have cause this accident, which first-responders are saying is one of the worst scenes they have ever worked on.  The area is strewn with twisted parts of train coaches, several cars were on their sides or tops.  



            

It has been calculated that the train engineer was traveling at 106mph going into the curve, where the speed limit was 50mph (170kph / 80kph).  This more than explains how the accident happened.  It does not explain why. source

It's incredible how these safety systems that slow trains down when coming to a curve, or jumping a red signal light (as was the case here in the UK) are not mandatory. As always, it boils down to money...

"...Both crashes would have been prevented by an operational Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, but wider fitting of this had been rejected on cost grounds..."

From Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash

House Republicans voted Wednesday to chop about a fifth of Amtrak’s budget, less than a day after a deadly train crash that Democrats pointed to as a prime example of the dangers of shortchanging the nation’s transportation needs.


They also rebuffed Democrats’ attempts to provide money for an advanced speed-control technology that federal investigators later said would have prevented the crash.





Read more: www.politico.com/story/2015/05/amtrak-budget-house-panel-crash-117904.html#ixzz3aBXeIV1f