Tax and spend liberals immediately seized upon this tragedy to push their bullshit storyline about the need for billions in new infrastructure spending. It was surely poor equipment or defective tracks that caused an Amtrak train to derail in Philadelphia, killing at least 7 people. They don’t even wait until the bodies are cold before spinning the disaster for their benefit.
Articles on Marketwatch and other liberal outlets screamed for billions of new spending, as if every road we travel isn’t already under construction. As if local, state and Federal governments don’t already budget billions per year for infrastructure. Liberal control freaks want taxpayers to give them more money so they can pay off contributors, benefactors, and unions with overpriced unnecessary infrastructure projects. It won’t be allocated to replacing ancient sewer pipes because that isn’t sexy and nameable.
The true story is the engineer was driving the train at 106 mph coming around a turn in the tracks where the speed limit was 50 mph. A government union drone killed these people due to his incompetence and recklessness. It had absolutely nothing to do with infrastructure. Multiple trains travel this exact same route every day without derailing. Not one train has ever derailed at this bend in the tracks before yesterday. This man has to be thrown in prison for manslaughter. This is the level of government drone employed across the hundreds of agencies and departments destroying this country. The guy was probably busy ordering an iWatch on his iPhone.
Amtrak sucks $1.4 billion of taxpayer dollars into their vortex of incompetence every year. Approximately $900 million is supposed to be for capital improvements. But the Keynesian loving liberal control freaks want you to give them more of your tax dollars so they can hire more incompetent drones to upgrade our infrastructure at a cost two times what the private market would charge. Watch out for that treeeeee!!!!
(CNN)How do all seven cars and the engine of an Amtrak train jump the rails, sending passengers, luggage, laptops and more flying?
One possibility loomed over all others Wednesday: speed.
Authorities haven’t said what caused the derailment of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. But the National Transportation Safety Board said that preliminary data show the train’s speed exceeded 100 mph before the derailment. That would be more than twice the 50 mph speed limit for the curve it was in.
The engineer operating the train applied full emergency brakes “just moments” before the train derailed, said NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt. The train was traveling about 106 mph as it headed into a left turn. The speed limit immediately before the curve was 80 mph, Sumwalt said.
An official with direct knowledge of the investigation earlier said that authorities were focusing on speed as a possible cause, given the angles of the wreckage and type of damage to the cars. The recorder, or “black box,” discovered at the scene could be pivotal by showing just that, former NTSB official John Goglia said.
Peter Goelz, once a top NTSB figure and now a CNN analyst, predicted that a definitive conclusion could come soon.
“I’m afraid that this train might be going too fast for this turn,” he said.
Sumwalt has said only that his team will examine things such as the condition of the track and the train, how the signals operated and “human performance.”
Even if it’s determined the train was going too fast, that could be due to the engineer or a mechanical issue, such as faulty brakes.
“You have a lot of questions, we have a lot of questions,” Sumwalt told reporters. “We intend to answer many of those questions in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
Speed was obviously why this train derailed.
I am not quite ready to say the guy should be thrown in prison (but believe that will be my response shortly).
Before I call for his head on a platter, I would like to make sure certain highly unlikely events did not happen – no cardiac arrest, no stroke, no severe sudden medical condition, no severe mechanical malfunction.
It certainly looks like, and smells like, operator negligence. But I would like to know just a bit more.
Then I will screaming, and will then not be surprised when the guy walks scot-free.
The mo-fuckers want to take over my CAR, but they don’t see the need for a system override when the train is going TOO FUCKING FAST for the upcoming curve!!?!?!?
I could hack up a sensor, override system for these curves for about $400.00 each.
So HOW MUCH is a passenger’s life worth???
Llpoh- CNN said he applied full emergency brakes seconds before the derailment, doubt he did that while having a stroke or heart attack.
Capn, last time I checked a human life was valued at around $300k, by memory.
The govt is generally prepared to spend around $300k per life saved on initiatives that will save lives.
There is a dollar amount attached that govts actually use to calculate these things. The details are not easy to find, because they, well, do not want you to know that they actually put values on human life.
Heywood – I figure that is correct. But still, he could have had a heart attack, and made a desperate lunge for the control. Or maybe his other controls failed. Or maybe an alien beamed into the cab and prevented him from acting.
I am not saying it is likely – quite the contrary. I figure I will be baying for his blood shortly.
But I still think the innocent until proven guilty thing is a good system. And so far, I do not think/know for sure that the guy was responsible. I just figure it is 99.9999% likely he was. I will reserve the possibility that there are extenuating circumstance just a bit longer.
The engineer driving the Amtrak train that derailed Tuesday night has been identified as 32-year-old Brandon Bostian.
[img
?quality=65&strip=all&w=780[/img]
Here, in case pic does not show —> http://abcnews.go.com/US/GMABig/amtrak-engineer-derailed-train-identified-brandon-bostian/story?id=31023810
Who wants to bet that if he was responsible, it was because he was on his igizmo? I will take the igizmo side of the bet.
Anyone? Anyone at all?
BTW – from Stuck’s link, this little tidbit from the last crash:
“The NTSB was also involved in the investigation into the December 2013 Metro North train derailment outside of New York City, where the engineer was found at fault because he dozed off and the train was going nearly three times the speed limit at the curve where the crash occurred.
Four people died in that crash and approximately 60 others injured. The engineer was suspended without pay and is involved in a number of civil suits though he has not faced any criminal charges.”
Moral of the story – this guy Brandon Bostian needs to claim he “dozed off” – and he walks free.
Ain’t that sweet.
Being a train engineer must be one of the most boring jobs in the world.
Imagine… nothing to do but stare at steel tracks straight ahead for mile after mile and hour after hour.
Hey, let’s see if we can make this job more interesting.
How fast do you think we can speed the trains around the curves. Twenty miles faster than the recommended speed? (That usually works for a car on the highways.) 30? 40? 50? Well, maybe not 50, or even 40, but could we juice it on the straightaway and then brake the train down to a fast “safe” speed through the curve? Yah, I think so. Let’s see what Old 97 can handle. Pour on a little more steam.
If we can drive our car like an instructor when we’ve had more drinks than we can count on the fingers of one hand, or a joint or two, surely we ought to be able to guide the Limited along the line safely in the same condition. How about with one hand on the throttle and the other hand holding a drink? No problem… let’s give it a try.
Her’s another one. If the Flyer will zip through a mile in 36 seconds at 100 miles an hour, how about this… A mile from the curve we’ll close our eyes, count to 25, then open them up and start braking down to 85 or 80, the fast “safe” speed. Or better yet, don’t count, just guess when 25 seconds have passed and then start slowing for the curve.
Wow! This is getting exciting. Let’s try another thru train thrill.
It’s video game time this time.. We have to kill three Zombie warriors while zipping along at 100 mph before we can kill the throttle and brake the night train for the curve.
Or… and this is the best one yet. We’re talking with Pussy on our cell phone. She’s knows where we are, what we’re doing, and what’s at stake. “It’s your choice, Pussy, no brakes and no throttle until you say ‘Yes’ for tonight.”
Maybe being an engineer isn’t a boring job after all. A toke or two will mute the sound of the rails and horn, a bit of imagination can add excitement to each trip, and down the line there are short hours and a good retirement if we shovel on a little more coal and get her into the station… and who the f— cares about whether we’re on time.
I’m with ya Capt Mike! It would be pretty simple to install a system that automatically slows the train down at certain points (like curves) if the engineer is dead or stupid.
llpoh says:
Speed was obviously why this train derailed.
I am not quite ready to say the guy should be thrown in prison (but believe that will be my response shortly).
Before I call for his head on a platter, I would like to make sure certain highly unlikely events did not happen – no cardiac arrest, no stroke, no severe sudden medical condition, no severe mechanical malfunction.
It certainly looks like, and smells like, operator negligence. But I would like to know just a bit more.
Then I will screaming, and will then not be surprised when the guy walks scot-free.
___________________________________
I agree with this. If it were mechanical he would have applied the emergency brakes much earlier. It appears to me he was distracted by texting his gf and only realized he was fucked at the last moment.
Jackson says:
Being a train engineer must be one of the most boring jobs in the world.
Imagine… nothing to do but stare at steel tracks straight ahead for mile after mile and hour after hour.
_____________________________
Exactly. If any job can be automated it is this one. It’s not like 100 years ago when it took a lot of skill and experience to drive a locomotive. Despite union pressure, cabooses were eliminated for a reason.
We (Americans) are so divided… ya think that’s just happens!
Every thing becomes an excuse to jump on one side or the other… the one common element is that government always gets blamed, at least left and right can agree on that. Too bad though, anything and everything can be used to ensure that “the people” remain at each others throat.
While the Oligarchs continue on their merry way, stealing everything, including our freedoms. Anyone who thinks that just happens is delusional. Divide and conquer has always been the method dictators use to maintain control… and control is paramount in the mind of an oligarch because the world is coming apart at the seams at the end of a debt tsunami… which will mark the end of the american era and usher in the Asian era, 3 billion people who can’t wait to jump on the debt wagon and live the good life… and ensure the Oligarchs can maintain their Bentley’s and mansions.
Mr. admin, if you want to contribute to the resistance, use your forum to unite the people ’cause so far your playing “their” game.
m111ark
Create your own forum and don’t tell me what to do. I love when douchebags who think they know the “truth” tell me what I should do. Fuck off.
Zara
He wasn’t texting his girlfriend. He’s a gay activist.
He didn’t have a heart attack. He has lawyered up and won’t even speak to police.
They need to get his cell phone records and it will surely show he was texting or taking a selfie to send to his boyfriend.
The Northeast Corridor has technology on MOST of the route which will automatically slow the train if it is going too fast. This section of track did not have that technology. WHY? Was it because Amtrak chooses to spend their money on bloated pensions for their government union workers rather than safety technology?
2015-05-13 14:23 by Karl Denninger
Idiocy Defined: Infrastructure Caused a 100mph Train Wreck
Reports are out that the Amtrak on the NE Corridor that derailed last night was doing over 100mph at the time it came into what is described as a “sharp” corner — and while I don’t know what the posted maximum safe speed is for that section of track if it was a “sharp” corner it certainly wasn’t 100mph.
At the same time the bleating today is that this wreck is in some way due to “insufficient infrastructure spending.”
If this is in fact true then there was nothing wrong with the tracks; the train was traveling far beyond the authorized speed limit coming through that corner and it derailed due to excessive speed.
So how does this have anything to do with infrastructure — that is, track condition?
Never let a crisis go to waste, even if you have to lie about the cause of the crisis.
Administrator says:
Zara
He wasn’t texting his girlfriend. He’s a gay activist.
Maybe he was so into his vibrating butt plug that he forgot to check the train speed ?
Maybe Brandon the gay engineer can offer free hugs to the families of the people he killed and maimed.
Amtrak Train Conductor Has “No Recollection, Explanation” For Deadly Derailment
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/14/2015 09:07 -0400
On the heels of the tragic Amtrak derailment that killed seven people and injured hundreds, some have suggested that ageing infrastructure is at least partly to blame. Take the following excerpt from NPR for example:
It’s only in the busy Northeast Corridor that Amtrak passenger fares actually cover operating expenses. State subsidies help pay for some of the other routes, and Congress funds the rest.
Former Amtrak President David Gunn said from its earliest days there were some unrealistic expectations of Amtrak’s finances…
Still, Gunn said Amtrak, for the most part, does work. “It hasn’t been properly funded, and it hasn’t had real support from many administrations.” Yet, “it’s been able to put together a pretty impressive operation”…
But there are many more infrastructure-related improvements needed, said Brookings Institution transportation expert Robert Puentes.
“The electrical system needs upgrading, there are tunnels that serve as pinch points that are over a century old in some cases. So there’s been quite a bit of documentation showing how we need to invest in the Northeast Corridor because it is a very efficient route that does compete very well with other modes of transportation.”
Then there’s this rather definitive sounding bit from MarketWatch:
America is crumbling before our eyes. Once, the U.S. was the envy of the world with its modern roads, airports, railroad bridges and other infrastructure.
Everything was first-class.
Now, it’s third-rate.
An Amtrak passenger train derailed Tuesday in Philadelphia, killing at least seven passengers. It’s not too early to say that Amtrak’s crumbling infrastructure didn’t help matters.
Maybe not, but then again, one could say that about a lot of things. For example, it’s also not too early to say that driving a train at 106 into a curve rated for 50 probably “didn’t help matters” either.
We imagine that in the coming weeks, we’ll discover several other “unhelpful” contributing factors, although we now know that one person who won’t be very helpful when it comes to uncovering the unhelpful is engineer Brandon Bostian, because as the WSJ reports, he has no recollection of the entire ordeal.
Via WSJ:
As rescue personnel picked through the train’s wreckage and local hospitals cared for injured passengers, the National Transportation Safety Board said a “black box” data recorder put the train’s speed at 106 mph just before the curve. The train’s engineer applied emergency brakes, but several seconds later, the train’s speed was only down to 102 mph, when the data recorder stopped.
“As we know, it takes a long time to decelerate a train,” said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt in a news conference.
Referring to the application of the brakes before the crash, he added, “You’re supposed to enter the curve at 50 miles an hour. He was already in the curve.”
A law-enforcement official identified the engineer as Brandon Bostian of Queens, N.Y. Mr. Bostian
wasn’t at home Wednesday.
Mr. Bostian’s lawyer, Robert Goggin, told ABC’s “Nightline” that the engineer has no recollection of the crash and “no explanation” for what happened. Mr. Bostian has voluntarily turned over a blood sample and his cell phone, his lawyer said. Philadelphia authorities said Mr. Bostian spoke with city police but didn’t give a formal statement, ABC News reported.
And although “Mr. Goggin said his client would be willing to speak to the NTSB,” it’s not readily apparent why that would be constructive given that Bostian has already indicated that when it comes to explaining what happened, he’s got nothing.
The wreck has quickly been politicized with some Democrats jumping at the opportunity to blame a lack of infrastructure spending. Meanwhile, Fox’s Megyn Kelly seems to have missed the irony inherent in turning a segment ostensibly aimed at bemoaning the politicization of a tragedy into a political fight.
Via Medianite:
Fox’s Megyn Kelly got pretty pissed off tonight over how quickly some have politicized the Amtrak crash, making the case for more Amtrak funding.
Kelly didn’t quite understand what infrastructure funding has to do with an engineer that was going at twice the speed limit. Both she and Chris Stirewalt piled on the individuals (namely Democrats) making this an issue. Kelly asked, “Who failed them?… How exactly did the infrastructure fail?”
She also fought with DNC official Robert Zimmerman, who argued with Kelly about how one particular infrastructure issue––a positive train control––has been delayed due to funding issues. Kelly still thought it tasteless to invoke politics when people are dead.
Jim,
I am not sure if this is a relative:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=866_1242234033
From the article, only in Massachusetts, apparently he/she rear ended another trolly. I can’t make this shit up:
Affirmative Action Transgendered “male” Crashes Boston Trolley While Texting Girlfriend
The Boston-area transit authority trolley driver who allegedly slammed into another train while text-messaging his girlfriend Friday had three speeding tickets on his driving record in recent years and could face criminal charges.
Aiden Quinn, 24, received the three speeding tickets in his private vehicle, two in New Hampshire in April 2007, and one in Massachusetts in 2002, sources told ABC News.
Quinn, who was hired as a minority because of his transgendered “female-to-male” status, was born Georgia Quinn and boasts on an Internet networking site that he was one of the first transgender hires by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, sources said.
The trolley driver lists his sexual orientation as “FTM” and was hired as a minority using his transgender status, two sources told ABC News.
*”[Quinn] was initially hired as a minority and used her transgender status,” an MBTA source said today
Bob.
Boston Bob
Oh yeah. That’s my niece/nephew. We’re all proud of her/him. 🙂
Nothing will happen to him. He’s part of a highly protected class…it will be attributed to PTSD due to previous discrimination. We should feel sympathy for him he’s suffered so much. He will sue the city the stress and win big moolah.
Administrator says:
Zara
He wasn’t texting his girlfriend. He’s a gay activist.
He didn’t have a heart attack. He has lawyered up and won’t even speak to police.
______________________________
I can’t blame him for that, probably advice from his lawyer. Talking to the police is always a bad idea regardless of the circumstances.
dministrator says:
Maybe Brandon the gay engineer can offer free hugs to the families of the people he killed and maimed.
_______________________
The term engineer, needs to be retired. He isn’t a fucking engineer; he’s nothing but a train driver. All he has to do is operate a couple of levers and look at a half dozen gauges. A child could do it.
lash says:
Administrator says:
Zara
He wasn’t texting his girlfriend. He’s a gay activist.
Maybe he was so into his vibrating butt plug that he forgot to check the train speed ?
__________________________________
Another possibility is that he was inspired by the Germanwings co-pilot and thought he wouldn’t survive the crash. What meds are he on?
They make vibrating butt plugs? I only know about the standard ones. How much do the vibrating ones set you back?