Amtrak Train 91-CSX collision in SC (2/4/18)/Liability issues

[jis]

Press Conference currently taking place. Report seems to confirm that two Amtrak employees were the fatalities. Over 100 people taken to hospital. Trains hit head on, not sure why yet. One of the coaches/sleepers? seems to have buckled. More coming from the governor and emergency personnel.

The buckled car is an Amfleet II Coach.

 

[Dank]

Unconfirmed information 08:30 local time from a former colleague in Amtrak train/engine service that the fatalities are crewmembers.Prayers for the crews, passengers, and families.

Is that Amtrak or CSX crew?

 

[railiner]

What horrible news to wake up to....

The train must have been going at close to full speed to have the force to buckle that Amfleet coach...horrible to even think about....my thoughts go to the crew, the passenger's and their families....

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Unconfirmed information 08:30 local time from a former colleague in Amtrak train/engine service that the fatalities are crewmembers.Prayers for the crews, passengers, and families.

Is that Amtrak or CSX crew?

Amtrak

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[William W.]

Id guess that this is 100% on CSX. Theyre responsible for switching and signaling. If this train ended up on a siding, thats not Amtraks fault.

I wish that the Feds would nationalize them. Theyre perhaps the worst railroad in the US.

 

[Dank]

What a disaster.

This is happening far too frequently, and only gives ammunition to those who want to defund amtrak.

I'm thinking the other way. It gives fuel to why Amtrak needs funding. Where is Joe Biden when we need him!

 

[Dank]

Unconfirmed information 08:30 local time from a former colleague in Amtrak train/engine service that the fatalities are crewmembers.Prayers for the crews, passengers, and families.

Is that Amtrak or CSX crew?

AmtrakSent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

Not good, but thanks for the info.

 

[Dank]

What horrible news to wake up to....

The train must have been going at close to full speed to have the force to buckle that Amfleet coach...horrible to even think about....my thoughts go to the crew, the passenger's and their families....

From what I heard from someone, according to Amtrak's track my train the train was traveling at 32 MPH at the time of the incident.

 

[Bierboy]

What a disaster.

This is happening far too frequently, and only gives ammunition to those who want to defund amtrak.

..which is a crock...as I mentioned in the above post.

 

[inspiration100]

What a disaster.

This is happening far too frequently, and only gives ammunition to those who want to defund amtrak.

..which is a crock...as I mentioned in the above post.

I don't think most of us disagree, but his point is probably correct.

 

[Bierboy]

What horrible news to wake up to....

The train must have been going at close to full speed to have the force to buckle that Amfleet coach...horrible to even think about....my thoughts go to the crew, the passenger's and their families....

From what I heard from someone, according to Amtrak's track my train the train was traveling at 32 MPH at the time of the incident.

I'm just reading it was going 59MPH...

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Press Conference currently taking place. Report seems to confirm that two Amtrak employees were the fatalities. Over 100 people taken to hospital. Trains hit head on, not sure why yet. One of the coaches/sleepers? seems to have buckled. More coming from the governor and emergency personnel.

The buckled car is an Amfleet II Coach.

Fortunately, it was actually an Amfleet II Cafe. The car appeared to split roughly down the middle, which is the location of the counter. As it occurred during the middle of the night, there would be nobody working there and no line, so the only way anybody would be there is if they were walking through which is unlikely considering there are coaches on one side and sleepers on the other. There likely could have been more fatalities had this occurred in a coach or in the cafe during a meal time when there tends to be a long line for the cafe car, especially on the Silver Star where that is the only food-serving car.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

This is happening far too frequently, and only gives ammunition to those who want to defund amtrak.

Perhaps they are correct! If we as a society are not willing to fund the RRs sufficiently (and I certainly include CSX et al. in this) at the bare minimum for safety maybe it really is time to let US passenger rail go. There is such a tremendous backlog of deferred maintenance to make it work: just think tunnels bridges and catenary on the NEC - hundreds of billions of $$.

While it may seem unsafe to take the train considering all the bad press lately, even during this time period the odds of being killed in an Amtrak crash are still extremely low. According the my calculations, if the time period was limited to December 18th-February 4th the odds of a passenger being killed in an Amtrak wreck are about 1 in 1,389,583 (Annual ridership divided by (365/number of days in time period) divided by number of passenger deaths). News reports tend to focus much more on train wrecks than car wrecks, as one train accident tends to injure more people than a car wreck. However, trains are still a much safer mode of transportation than cars.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Press Conference currently taking place. Report seems to confirm that two Amtrak employees were the fatalities. Over 100 people taken to hospital. Trains hit head on, not sure why yet. One of the coaches/sleepers? seems to have buckled. More coming from the governor and emergency personnel.

The buckled car is an Amfleet II Coach.

Fortunately, it was actually an Amfleet II Cafe. The car appeared to split roughly down the middle, which is the location of the counter. As it occurred during the middle of the night, there would be nobody working there and no line, so the only way anybody would be there is if they were walking through which is unlikely considering there are coaches on one side and sleepers on the other. There likely could have been more fatalities had this occurred in a coach or in the cafe during a meal time when there tends to be a long line for the cafe car, especially on the Silver Star where that is the only food-serving car.

There may have been some drunks and late-nighters still in the lounge, as the car itself stays open all night, but they would have been on one end or the other, likely the Coach end as the Conductors usually office on the Sleeper end.

 

[user 1215]

There are two damaged cars from what I can see from drone footage. The first car behind #42 is buckled. A small crunch visible in the top skin. The one I think is the cafe car was several back and it SNAPPED in half, bending about itself.

I'm surprised to only see one P42. I thought all Amtrak LD except the Texas Eagle had two locos.

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[Rover]

Sad news to hear. It reads as though the Amtrak train ran into the rear of the freight train?

Latest photos Ive seen seem to indicate it was head on..

.

634B7299-08E4-4D71-865F-9E94090DC3C4.jpeg

Even late this morning the National News gives little "facts" like "head on", and "one stationary, and the Amtrak moving"....

Looking at pictures and Google Maps, it looks like the CSX train was in the siding and somehow 91 ended up there too.

Once again the National News is clueless about train operations, "main line" vs "sidings."

CSX has a history of wire issues with there signals system.

Please explain "wire issues"....

I'm surprised to only see one P42. I thought all Amtrak LD except the Texas Eagle had two locos.

Not according to this Wiki article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Star_(Amtrak_train)

-------------------------------------------

And, if I got it right.... The Trump Admin's Infrastructure Bill proposes take money away from Amtrak.

 

[Ind Ben]

Is it possible the CSX engine was remote controlled?

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[Bierboy]

Updated 30 minutes ago (IDs of the two fatalities included) -- http://www.wistv.com/story/37422691/update-2-killed-70-injured-following-amtrak-train-collision-in-cayce-sc

 

[jis]

Is it possible the CSX engine was remote controlled?

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It was stationary on a yard track. How it was controlled would be relevant only if it was moving, which it was not.

 

[pennyk]

I'm surprised to only see one P42. I thought all Amtrak LD except the Texas Eagle had two locos.

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The Silver Star routinely runs with one engine these days.

 

[jis]

Both the Silver Star and the Palmetto routinely operate with one loco. They are not long enough to require two locos. As a matter of cat, on occasions even the lake Shore Limited has been known to have operated with one loco.

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

And, if I got it right.... The Trump Admin's Infrastructure Bill proposes take money away from Amtrak.

Funding, according to the plan, will be dramatically increased with local, state, and private funds. Decreased at the federal level.

The idea being to more efficiently allocate funds, since many cities have long complained about funding infrastructure, despite having no rail service.. Ie Vegas, Arizona, Columbus, Nashville, etc. verses northeast corridor.

The idea is good, but I am 100% confident that its dead-on-arrival since DC is worthless, and incapable of doing simple tasks. Oh, we will get hearings, and committees about the issue. So they can brush off questions to say "answers will come at the end of the study" hoping people have forgotten by then.

 

[Dank]

This is happening far too frequently, and only gives ammunition to those who want to defund amtrak.

Perhaps they are correct! If we as a society are not willing to fund the RRs sufficiently (and I certainly include CSX et al. in this) at the bare minimum for safety maybe it really is time to let US passenger rail go. There is such a tremendous backlog of deferred maintenance to make it work: just think tunnels bridges and catenary on the NEC - hundreds of billions of $$.

While it may seem unsafe to take the train considering all the bad press lately, even during this time period the odds of being killed in an Amtrak crash are still extremely low. According the my calculations, if the time period was limited to December 18th-February 4th the odds of a passenger being killed in an Amtrak wreck are about 1 in 1,389,583 (Annual ridership divided by (365/number of days in time period) divided by number of passenger deaths). News reports tend to focus much more on train wrecks than car wrecks, as one train accident tends to injure more people than a car wreck. However, trains are still a much safer mode of transportation than cars.

These few incidents in the past couple of months will not deter me from taking Amtrak in April. I will be taking the Crescent from Baltimore to NOLA and then the Sunset Limited on to Houston!

 

[PRR 60]

Let's keep politics out of this discussion.

 

[dlagrua]

Certainly a terrible tragedy. Deepest condolences to the families of the engineer and conductor who were lost. The question becomes who is responsible for the Silver Star being on the wrong track at the wrong time. Since CSX is in charge of dispatch it may very well be their fault. Years back this yard would have had a switching tower manned 24/7 with one or two people doing the switching but today with cost savings and all, its all done at a remote location likely to be even in another state. .