David Benton wrote:...can you imagine saying to a police officer you didn't slow down for a speed limit/curve because you had only driven the route once or twice?...
That probably happens all the time. I had it happen to me on Rt 17 in New Jersey a few years ago. A traffic light where I didn't expect one and a yellow light of much shorter duration than I expected given the fairly high speed limit. I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop in time and the light was red when I went through the intersection. I was pulled over by a local police officer, he lit me up right away. I told him by the time I saw the light was yellow etc. The officer acted very professionally but he let me off with a verbal warning. Maybe it helped that this was in New Jersey and my plates and driver's license showed I was a New Yorker.
It's not just Amtrak. I exchanged emails a few years ago with a locomotive engineer on the former SP Los Angeles Division. We were discussing the particulars of a train derailment. One thing he emphasized to me was, the modern railroad is a lot different than years ago when hoggers were said to know their route like "the back of their hand." He said today the job is totally different. For instance, the Los Angeles Division encompasses hundreds of route-miles. Crews have to be 'qualified' on routes but that might mean being assigned to a train, a heavy road freight, on a route you haven't seen in months. There are dozens of crews and almost everyone works extra. It's not unusual for engineers and conductors to work with someone they barely know. He mentioned he had just worked a road freight with a helper, and having little idea who the engineer on the helper was. He wrote to me, "I didn't even recognize his name."
The point he was making was, in a derailment that had occurred, the locomotive engineer's lack of familiarity with the route, despite being 'qualified' on it, did play a part, it wasn't the cause, but it was undoubtedly a contributing factor. But on many roads today, that is just reality and it can make the job extremely challenging at times.
The locomotive engineer told investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board that he knew a sharp curve was coming up, but as filtered through the NTSB, he said he "didn't recall" seeing the advance speed limit sign..."In the five weeks preceding the derailment, the engineer had qualified on the Point Defiance Bypass section of track following the completion of seven to 10 observational trips in the locomotive as well as three trips operating the equipment, two northbound and one southbound," said the NTSB investigative update released Thursday. Link