Train speed kills, so does Congress delay

Three people were killed and dozens injured last week in a horrific Amtrak derailment near Seattle — an accident that might have been prevented by a safety system that Congress mandated nine years ago. Making this all the more tragic, the automatic-braking system was installed on the tracks and on the train, but it was not yet operating.

Seconds before the crash, the locomotive was tilting as it headed at 80 mph into a curve posted at 30 mph, and the engineer appeared to be applying the brakes, investigators said Friday. But like the Titanic, Amtrak's Cascades 501 would never complete its inaugural passenger-carrying run along a new bypass route.

While the official cause of the accident has not been determined, it’s not much of a stretch to think that the train’s speed — nearly three times the limit — contributed to what happened. Or that automatic braking, designed to handle just this sort of circumstance, might have prevented cars from flying off the tracks.  

REP. SHUSTER: 'Positive train control' was not ready

How many more lives will be lost before the safety system — known as "positive train control" — will be operating on all passenger, commuter and freight railroads? 

Safety watchdogs have been pushing for some type of automatic braking system since 1969, the year of the moon landing.

Meanwhile, such crashes have killed 298 and injured more than 6,700, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Finally, in 2008, lawmakers took notice after a California accident in which the engineer of a Metrolink commuter train ran through a stop signal and hit a freight train, killing 25. Congress ordered the braking system installed on all passenger trains and those that carried hazardous chemicals by the end of 2015.

Two other deadly crashes underscored the need. In December 2013 in the Bronx, a commuter train derailed killing four, after the engineer headed into a 30-mph curve at 82 mph. And in May 2015, just north of Philadelphia, an Amtrak train barreled into a turn at more than 100 mph — twice the speed limit  — and ran off the rails, killing seven and injuring more than 200.

If positive train control had been installed, “this accident would not have occurred,” National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said of the Philadelphia crash. 

What did Congress do? Five months later, after lobbying by the railroad industry, Republicans and Democrats extended the deadline to install the system until the end of 2018.

Now, three more people are dead. And no single entity is willing to take responsibility. While Amtrak operated the train, the Washington state transportation department owned the locomotive, and a third entity, Sound Transit, owns the tracks. The perfect scenario for finger-pointing. 

Certainly, there are challenges to putting positive train control in place: high costs, standardizing  technologies and getting the radio spectrum that makes the system work. 

Complicated? Yes. But installation has already taken longer than it took to put a man on the moon, eight years after President Kennedy announced his ambitious goal in 1961. As of Sept. 30, the safety system is operating on just 24% of the miles passenger trains travel.

The rationale for Congress’ extension in 2015 was that the only alternative was to shut down the nation's rails. What about huge fines for the laggards? That might have lit a fire under the industry. And saved the three lives lost last week. 

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