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He took a voluntary blood test, I assume they could have forced. He made no statement, he should be fired and more than likely will be fired. 8 people killed and he doesn't know what happened.
It's not really voluntary. Blood tests for alcohol or drugs are standard whenever a major derailment or other train movement accident happens. It used to be everyone involved in the train movement from the crew to the dispatcher controlling the movement was tested.
Tests would also be performed post-mortem if necessary.
The Amtrak Engineer Brandon Bostian which is more likely what happened since he says he can't remember the crash.
Emergency brakes applied 5 seconds prior to derailment. I think he fell asleep.
As an engineer myself, looking out the windows and seeing the rails approach and disappear under the engine can be mesmerizing, kind of like road hypnosis. Why I keep my head on a swivel. Look for all the signals ahead. Keep abreast of all radio transmissions. And most of all, have a conversation with the conductor in the cab. Amtrak has no conductor in the cab. They have a kill switch in the cab that has to be pressed every 30 seconds or the brakes engage and brings the train to a stop. Positive Train Control is trumpeted by Congress but it is not the cure-all. To me that will make the engineer even lazier believing the technology will keep him out of trouble. PTC will not stop derailments due to worn out tracks collapsing or switches improperly set.
Rigidly enforcing time off for rest is the only solution. I work a lot but always ensure that I am rested. Never had a problem.
You are making this too complicated....He was probably distracted...(texting on his cell phone or making out with his assistant)
It's happened before.... A B.C. Supreme Court judge blamed a tangled, steamy relationship between two crew members for the Queen of the North’s deadly collision with a remote, rocky island, as she sentenced navigator Karl Lilgert to four years for his role in the ship’s sinking. Navigator jailed for four years in deadly B.C. ferry crash - The Globe and Mail
And charge the GOP-controlled congress with criminal negligence for defunding Amtrak despite record breaking ridership levels. Modern safety features like positive train control prevents disasters caused by human error.
To not have it on a very busy train corridor is mind-numbingly stupid if not criminally negligent.
Apparently there is something on the track that needed to be installed that was sitting in a warehouse waiting to be installed.
With GPS and the ability to have all the required data onboard I'm not so sure I understand the need for such a system on the tracks to brake the train if it's approaching a bad corner.
Someone threw a rock at the train, it busted the windshield (windshield was broken), rock hit engineer who fell on on throttle, train sped up in last few moments and derailed. (train did speed up like that) Another rock had hit a Septa train earlier as the locals in this section of track have been known to throw rocks at trains all the time.
The Amtrak Engineer Brandon Bostian which is more likely what happened since he says he can't remember the crash.
What baffles me is how no one knew how fast he was going. We have GPS systems, I'm sure the train had a nice GPS map display showing all the tracks, switching locations, bridges, turns, etc... GPS will tell you where you are on the earth, how fast you are going and which direction. We also have radio /cellular communications back to Amtrak headquarters where their dispatchers are monitoring all the trains. So not only should the train engineer know how fast he is going and where heis train is, so should his supervisor back at HQ.
Lacking the technology of a GPS system, they should still have the old analog systems that monitor the RPM of the engine and the revolutions per second of the train engine's wheels, to indicate train speed.
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