Amtrak train derails going 106mph in 50mph curve.
- Thread starter aristotle
- Start date
Your speculation makes as much sense as most of what the media is offering. There are some oddball conspiracies popping up around this incident. Getting the actual facts of how and why this crash happened will squelch the silly stuff. However, the engineer is going to have to do better than simply say he doesn't remember, that kind of claim doesn't hold up well.
Sorry, Aristotle, but "that kind of claim" is absolutely normal after a traumatic event, particularly when a head injury occurred. The engineer can't remember because there are no memories to access - the brain didn't have time to form and store them before the consciousness went out.
It is very interesting that the speed increased dramatically just before a curve, but there's too little info to speculate on why.
It is very interesting that the speed increased dramatically just before a curve, but there's too little info to speculate on why.
Mr, Engineer will be pressed to explain why the train under his control was going 106mph in a zone rated at 50mph. Several of his passengers died in this accident. Mr. Engineer was at the helm, he will be expected to explain his conduct in the moments leading up to the crash. Maybe, if he tries really, really hard, he can offer valuable insight into what happened prior to the crash. With dead people and mangled bodies lying all around, "I don't remember" is just too convenient. It will buy him some time.
You know about this, right?
Could he have NOT been at the Helm? Napping or elsewhere? Now, will they place a Camera or two on the Conductor? I don't know at all...just wondering how to prevent tragedy, Death and a horrific accident. Do we need Monitoring, or better monitoring for Prevention?
The cab is supposed to have a 2 minute timer the engineer must activate to keep the engine running. If (s)he doesn't press the button every two minutes the engine is supposed to shut down. I have no idea if that particular engine has a throttle lever or a rheostat. It would take an interesting combination of events to throttle it up to 100mph and deactivate the automatic shutdown. It's possible this could bring about video recording of the cab as part of the black box information in the future.
The public doesn't know much of anything because Mr. Engineer claims amnesia. The train wasn't remotely controlled. Acceleration comes from the hand of the engineer. The only person who benefits from this selective memory episode happens to be the person responsible for the train's safe operation.
And yet the NTSB says he's being "extremely cooperative". If he were trying to BS his way out of this, would he do that? I shall defer judgment for now...
Mr. Engineer is trying to have it both ways. On the one hand, some say he has been cooperative, but when it comes to his own actions in moments before the crash, he remembers nothing. How convenient is that? His lack of candor is troubling. Over time, pieces of the puzzle may come together. In the final analysis, Mr. Engineer was responsible for the safe operation of a train which left eight people dead and he isn't divulging key information about his own conduct just prior to the crash. Troubling, troubling, troubling. His interrogations are far from over.
Yeppers...all on him.
Self-serving excuses arouse skepticism: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0...ing-reports-of-object-striking-derailed-train
That does give a possible scenario for the untimely acceleration when it should have been slowing down. Was he fleeing a perceived attack on the train? And forgot about what was coming up in his panic. Something made him floor it prior to the turn. Like what was stated in the article, "It doesn't accelerate by itself".
"I don't remember" is convenient - if one is guilty, which there is zero evidence indicating the engineer is, so far. Otherwise, it's a frustrating reality of closed head injuries: the victim doesn't remember, and never will, because there were no memories formed at the time. I know this from nursing school, personal experience, and caring for patients with closed head injuries - it's not a cop out.
Why do you feel the engineer is hiding something?
The NTSB announced Thursday that they were able to determine that the train accelerated more than 35 mph in the final 65 seconds before the crash. The train's forward facing camera recorded the speed but investigators were not able to determine why it was accelerating at that point or if the engineer was actively raising the speed.
....After reading up on the CSX 8888 run away train incident, which inspired the movie unstoppable. I'm going with driver error possibly as a result of a mechanical failure crisis. I guess we will know in 12 months after the investigation is completed.
....After reading up on the CSX 8888 run away train incident, which inspired the movie unstoppable. I'm going with driver error possibly as a result of a mechanical failure crisis. I guess we will know in 12 months after the investigation is completed.
I'm going with 'we may never know', which is as frustrating as the engineer's absence of memory, but it's a reality we have to accept, sometimes.
I'm just not willing to assume the engineer is making up the memory loss, because I have suffered a closed head injury, and have no memory of the moments before it happened, because they never formed. I'm just glad no one else was injured, or that might be suspect, apparently.
I'm just not willing to assume the engineer is making up the memory loss, because I have suffered a closed head injury, and have no memory of the moments before it happened, because they never formed. I'm just glad no one else was injured, or that might be suspect, apparently.