Railworks America

Preliminary news report: no passenger deaths among the more than 340 on board.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/0 ... suspended/

Apparently, the casualties were on the truck that was struck. The picture of the front of the loco made me think it was the crew to begin with.

MadMike1024 wrote:Apparently, the casualties were on the truck that was struck. The picture of the front of the loco made me think it was the crew to begin with.

That appears to be correct. The casualties were either on or close to the backhoe. Very unfortunate, but glad the train did not derail.

Updated story and new picture:
http://patch.com/pennsylvania/westchest ... t-corridor

I like the headline. Sometimes you wonder if the headline writers even read the articles.

buzz456 wrote:I like the headline. Sometimes you wonder if the headline writers even read the articles.

Yes, I sure can relate to that. A part of my job was being the official departmental mouth for major crimes investigations and an interesting assortment of other human misery. You could never be certain how what you so carefully wrote and said would actually appear in print and especially what the lead-and-bleed headline above it would imply.

Although a little scary at times, at least with live on-camera interviews they can’t misquote you. I kept an underwear dispenser in my office for those.

A little more information on this unfortunate accident.
http://breaking911.com/were-rules-viola ... he-tracks/

Had a shunt been used, Amtrak’s computerized collision-avoidance system known as positive train control, or PTC, could have prevented the accident, said Steven Ditmeyer, a former federal railroad official and Virginia-based consultant who has advised the U.S. government and transportation industry groups but not Amtrak.

“It would have triggered the signal system, which would have triggered PTC,” Mr. Ditmeyer said of the shunting device. “I can think of no reason that there would not be a shunt in place” when maintenance is under way.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/amtrak-cras ... 1459885465

Supposedly the backhoe fell off a tie gon, and the supervisor was killed trying to get the operator out of the vehicle.