EDITORIAL: Time to focus on train safety — passenger and freight
Right now, top of mind is Monday morning's derailment that dumped an Amtrak locomotive and train cars onto
The investigation has much to reveal but right now focuses on the train's speed, reportedly about 80 mph as it entered a 30 mph curve. Assuming the narrative of high speed stands, the obvious question is why -- whether operator error or impairment, signal problems, equipment failure, track failure or even sabotage as the
Positive Train Control, installed on both the tracks and the train, uses a combination of GPS, wireless radio and computers to automatically slow down or stop a train if it is going too fast or is risking an accident. The systems are integrated with signals and speed limits, among other rules.
By accident of timing, the derailment comes a month after the
Meanwhile, a move earlier this month by the Trump administration is raising concern about freight rail safety.
The 2015 Obama-era rule required railroad companies to install electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, which stop a train faster by signaling instantaneously throughout a train, by 2021. The Trump administration cited industry complaints about cost. Critics of the move immediately pounced, with
The Amtrak crash investigation needs more time to fully determine what happened and how future tragedies could be averted. But the first step can be taken today, and that's for all agencies and railroads to commit to putting passenger and freight rail safety first.
* Members of the
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