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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(108,034 posts) Thu Jan 25, 2018, 11:02 PM Jan 2018

NTSB: Amtrak engineer missed signs before deadly derailment

Federal investigators say the engineer at the controls of an Amtrak passenger train when it derailed near DuPont knew the train needed to slow down before taking a curve over Interstate 5, but missed posted warning signs.

The National Transportation Safety Board released an investigation update Thursday, more than a month after the Dec. 18 derailment that left three people dead and dozens injured.

The 55-year-old engineer, who is not named in the NTSB report, had taken seven to 10 observational trips and operated three on the new Point Defiance Bypass before Dec. 17, when Amtrak Cascades 501 derailed on its inaugural passenger voyage down the new section of track.

In interviews conducted with the NTSB during the week of Jan. 15, the engineer said he knew the train needed to slow down before a 30 mph curve near Mounts Road, but missed a milepost sign and "advance speed sign" that would have alerted him to begin braking. The engineer, who was hired by Amtrak in 2004 as a conductor before being promoted in 2013, saw the milepost sign just before the curve, but mistook it for a different sign. He applied the breaks as the train took the curve over I-5, but seconds later the train derailed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ntsb-amtrak-engineer-missed-signs-before-deadly-derailment/ar-AAvasz7?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp

2 replies

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NTSB: Amtrak engineer missed signs before deadly derailment (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jan 2018 OP

When I was like 19 I had an accident BootinUp Jan 2018 #1

Are these trains relying on the engineer to read visual aides, like signs, procon Jan 2018 #2

BootinUp

(47,165 posts)

1. When I was like 19 I had an accident

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Thu Jan 25, 2018, 11:12 PM

Jan 2018

that was because I went too fast in a turn. Of course I was slightly impaired at the time.

procon

(15,805 posts)

2. Are these trains relying on the engineer to read visual aides, like signs,

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Thu Jan 25, 2018, 11:46 PM

Jan 2018

posted along the route? Does that man actually have to stick his head out of the train to look for signs so he knows what to do?

That's crazy. Cars have a routing system installed, so does a cell phone. Why are trains still relying on a 19th century level of operation in the computer age? The engineer needs an onboard computer system to track the train's route and provide him with information that he needs to safely operate the train.

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