Northeast Regional 188 - Accident In Philadelphia

SwingMan wrote:Engineers name was posted. Not posting it here just as an act of courtesy to him and his family..

Unfortunately this information has gotten out fairly quickly as it has been posted on Trainorders.com (where he apparently is a member) and by CBS news.

Does anybody know the stretches of track between NYP and PHL which have ACSES and those which do not?

Not sure if this will add much to the discussion, but one of my customers at work today happened be an Amtrak conductor who works the NEC whom I've gotten to know a bit recently and I couldn't help but mention the accident. He was certainly beside himself enough simply saying "It's a somber day for Amtrak" and mentioned that they had found another body (this was prior to the death roll officially rising to 7). When he was about to leave I told him that I hope the crew recovers quickly (I figured he must have known at least some of them and no doubt any moral support would have been appreciated) and he said that the crew members were badly injured and likely won't go back to their jobs (I assume he meant either due to the extent of their injuries or from any psychological trauma, which would certainly be understandable even if they only suffered a few scratches).


On a different note an amendment to give Amtrak $2.45B was shot down earlier today inspite of last night's crash. As much as this accident appears to be unrelated to deficient infrastructure (thought it could pertain to infrastructure that isn't there) and should not be the reason the NEC gets the gigantic check it desperately needs it definitely worse than the wrong time to cut Amtrak funding. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bus ... /27227179/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the past, when I have taken the train through this segment, I have always observed the train slowing down (perceptually at least.) So I am surprised to hear that the speed was higher than normal.

pablo wrote: For instance, I heard that Amtrak was created in "the 1970's" from Penn Central. Other points were more correct....

Not to get nitpicky, especially since I didn't hear the report, but other than being a bit oversimplified (as would be expected for the sake of brevity, only being a footnote and not a book report) what is wrong with this statement? 1971 is the 1970's and former Penn Central passenger property made up the majority of the new unified company's.

I saw it mentioned, I think once, in this thread, and only occasionally on social media. The news is not talking about it at all. I refer to the projectile strikes experienced in the general area by two other trains within a relatively close timeframe. It could easily be a coincidence, but it's something worth thinking about. As you look at the post-accident photos of the 601 you notice that only one side of the windshield is damaged, and that the damage looks more like it may have been from several distinct puncture impacts, rather than from a full-scale shatter which you might expect from violent vibration.

Is it conceivable that the engineer, while after accelerating out of the North Phila. area as normal, at some point, came upon some sort of barrage, or shooting? Something that would cause him to instinctually "hit the deck", with the throttle still open, he not having had time to ponder about such? It seems somewhat reasonable to me, and the normal profile of geography/distance/speed/acceleration seems like it might fit in with such a scenario.



aside: Rachel Maddow just reported that "pieces of track", with the implication that these were involved in the accident, were being cut up and hauled away for analysis...... The photos being shown on screen, while she was talking, were clearly of BRAND NEW track panels, which were enroute to the scene for the necessary repairs!

bluedash2 wrote:I just read on FB that this train was delayed somewhere along the trip for some kind of mechanical issue.

Amtrak 188(12) left Washington DC 6 minutes late and departed Philadephia on time. It was never more than three minutes late at the intermediate stops.

tk48states wrote:CNBC reported the engineer refused to make any statements after the crash and requested a lawyer be present before any questioning takes place, draw your own conclusions.

What is what I would do ESPECIALLY if I were innocent. Watch this video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc
I am not a Lawyer (I just play one on the radio...) (I co-host a law & politics talk show in the Philadelphia radio market).

I had heard in one report that the engineer has refused to make any statements and that he had 'lawyered up'

ahhh... yes the 'sleep Apnea' defense

The engineer involved has finally given a blood sample and did some kind of interview to the police,per a WCAU report(via MSNBC)
also turned over a cell phone.

I'm going to make this pretty short. The fact that there were not many more fatalities than there were I think says something about the design of this equipment. As for alternative routes there are some but they do not have capacity to help very much in a case like this. It will be nothing short of a miracle if get anything back on Thursday much less wires back too. I could maybe see something late in the day using diesels through the area.
I remember two different ones on the New Haven 1955 at Bridgeport and 1959 at Stamford and especially at Stamford it was a tough period. Catenay bridges were down in both cases. Bridgeport was somewhat similiar and speed was the issue but Stamford involved a stopped mail train and a through freight train and it took the New Haven over a month to get everything back.
Noel Weaver

I hope I have corrected the bad spots above, I typed that my smart phone and my smart phone was not in the right mood for this job.
Noel Weaver

EricL wrote:I saw it mentioned, I think once, in this thread, and only occasionally on social media. The news is not talking about it at all. I refer to the projectile strikes experienced in the general area by two other trains within a relatively close timeframe. It could easily be a coincidence, but it's something worth thinking about. As you look at the post-accident photos of the 601 you notice that only one side of the windshield is damaged, and that the damage looks more like it may have been from several distinct puncture impacts, rather than from a full-scale shatter which you might expect from violent vibration.

Is it conceivable that the engineer, while after accelerating out of the North Phila. area as normal, at some point, came upon some sort of barrage, or shooting? Something that would cause him to instinctually "hit the deck", with the throttle still open, he not having had time to ponder about such? It seems somewhat reasonable to me, and the normal profile of geography/distance/speed/acceleration seems like it might fit in with such a scenario.

I don't think the three incidents (the SEPTA Trenton Line and Amtrak Acela trains getting hit by projectiles at roughly the same time Amtrak Northeast Regional 188 passed through the same general location shortly before it derailed) are related, or at least that the derailment was related to the two other trains getting hit by objects, but I don't think the scenario that something happened to the engineer of Amtrak Regional 188 such that he was distracted or temporarily incapacitated shortly before the derailment can be ruled out either.

Sorry about the mess up in my last one. I'll try to straighten it out tomorrow.
Noel Weaver

We live in an extremely litigous society. I wouldn't make any statements until I discussed it with a lawyer because of the sharks swimming around waiting to twist what I say.

well, previous posts have indicated the Sprinters have a witness camera in addition to the event recorders.

anything hitting the windshield PRIOR to the derailment will, without a doubt, be captured by it.