Bad Amtrak wreck in Philadelpha

[Dave V]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/LosTrenesDeOscar/143052432453556?fref=photo

Could that have just been ballast striking the windshield at 100 MPH?

[conrail98]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/LosTrenesDeOscar/143052432453556?fref=photo

Not sure that's gunshot damage. That whole right front was where most of the damage was on the locomotive. That could've even come from inside the cab from the engineer hitting the windshield or something else,

Phil

[conrail98]

In fact, it looks almost like inside controls are bent up into the windshield, could've even been something on that coming into the windshield. However, there has been documented incidents around North Philadelphia station of an incident with a SEPTA train and an Acela with projectiles hitting the train,

Phil

[Rich_S]

I want to know the drug test results . How about a 1 mile ahead trip that starts a loco facing billboard size flashing 50 MPH CURVE just 200 feet before the curve . Low cost . Couple that with infractions mandating points given to an engineers license depending on severity and frequency of infraction will keep an eye out for those signs .

Richie, Getting caught going over the speed limit is always time on the street without pay. That is why crews purchase cut off insurance (Job Insurance Protection), eventually something is going to happen and you're going to spend some street time. Yes the weed weasels do have radar guns and regularly use them.   

[conrail98]

Tom,

On another forum there's an engineer who just got qualified on that section of track and he seems to be thinking along the same lines as you. I'm starting to think all 3 incidents are related, which is probably just doing more speculating that isn't really helpful,

Phil

[wazzou]

What, so the bullet struck the throttle control and increased the speed?

[conrail98]

What, so the bullet struck the throttle control and increased the speed?

Disorienting the engineer, perhaps? By the time he rights himself, there's the curve and he hits the breaks. I had originally discounted any connection to the other incidents, mostly because it was reported as struck something but later information from SEPTA and Amtrak talk about broken windows. Debris wouldn't cause that but something projected toward the trains would,

Phil

[ljudice]

My guess is some sort of distraction, as the train was going faster than the limit posted on the PRIOR section of track.

The LSL system on the NEC, I presume, only enforces speeds related to signals, right???

[nkalanaga]

It appears that the catenary support I saw in the early pictures came from the yard itself.  Note in Smike's picture that the tracks nearest the wreck have wires, and one of the supports is laying across the first car.  The missing NEC support is still on the NEC tracks, in pieces, between the last two cars and the building.  So at least two supports were hit.

And where is the locomotive?  Or is the debris field with the heavy equipment in it all that's left of it?

[OldEastRR]

Watch the website videos of any of the major networks, they have wide aerial shots of the scene. The loco separated from the train -- probably right after the cantenary pylon caught and shredded the first car. The rest of the train made the usual serpentine configuration derailments have.

[Rich_S]

The LSL system on the NEC, I presume, only enforces speeds related to signals, right???

Correct.

[sixpakpop]

I don't see how the engineer could be 'distracted' enough by something impacting the windshield, and allowing the locomotive to gain enough speed to DOUBLE the posted speed limit at the curve. Reports are he had just left a 70 mph section of track, so he was most likely already speeding. I feel that history has repeated itself. Here is another accident involving speed and a curve. The Metro North accident from December 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2013_Spuyten_Duyvil_derailment

[Smike]

I don't feel this is a done deal in terms of cause, but could have is much weight as saying Kato had something to do with it since they just released the day prior a new model of the same engine with only that road number..

The distance between the two events makes me think there is no link. But what are the odds of these two events at the near the same time?

"At about 9:25 p.m. Tuesday, SEPTA's northbound Train 769, en route to Trenton on tracks on the Northeast Corridor beside the Amtrak rails, was struck by "an unknown projectile" that broke the engineer's window, SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams said.

No injuries were reported and the train was held at the North Philadelphia station. The 80 passengers were transferred to buses.

About three minutes later and four miles away, near Frankford Junction, Amtrak's northbound Train 188 derailed on the Northeast Corridor tracks, killing at least six and injuring more than 200."

[nkalanaga]

OldEastRR:  Thank you.  I seldom watch the videos, due to slow connections, and rely on the still pictures.

[eric220]

Evidently the engineer's lawyer told Good Morning America that he's suffered a concussion and doesn't remember what happened. It seems a little suspect to me, but at the same time, plausible that it could have happened. It's too bad. In cases like these, knowing what was going on in the head of the guy that everyone is going to point the finger at is so important.