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[CNJRoss]

Roll Call, 5/25:

 

Opinion

By Joshua Gotbaum

 

After Derailment, NTSB Blames the Engineer, Not Amtrak

Downplaying railroad's failure may have been a missed safety opportunity

 

This week I learned that railroad barons still have power: they have successfully resisted safety measures that have for decades been standard for airlines and other transportation. I also learned that, by focusing on the wrong questions, federal safety agencies help keep railroads unsafe.  

 

After a year of careful study, the National Transportation Safety Board announced that the likely cause of the Amtrak 188 derailment in May 2015 that killed eight people and injured over 100 more was the engineer. The Board noted repeatedly that, had Amtrak turned on a safety system it had already installed, there would have been no accident at all. Nonetheless, the NTSB just couldn’t bring itself to blame Amtrak – even though the railroad has itself already admitted legal liability and agreed to pay compensation for damages^. The NTSB spent most of its meeting talking about the engineer, Brandon Bostian, saying that he'd lost track of where he was and was speeding up when he should have been slowing down.  .  .  . 

 

SNIP 

 

NTSB is an exceedingly knowledgeable and professional agency. Both the board and staff clearly care about safety and safety systems, but after 45 years maybe they’d be more successful if they started recognizing that the lack of such systems kills, too.  

 

Gotbaum is a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and was injured in the derailment of Amtrak 188 .

 

More here.

[CNJRoss]

SMART TD news release:

SMART TD contests radio distractions to FRA

 

In a letter dated May 26, 2016, to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), SMART TD National Legislative Director John Risch brought attention to the fact that some railroads are requiring needless radio broadcasts to the already-congested radio airways, which caused a derailment and loss of life in the case of the May 2015 Amtrak crash.

 

“Places where there is too much radio traffic impairs the ability of train crew members to communicate effectively with roadway workers, dispatchers and other train crews causing safety issues,” Risch wrote. “We have reports from members who say they have lost situational awareness because of the constant blaring of the locomotive radio and I can attest that it has happened to me.”

 

Click here to read Risch’s letter to the FRA in its entirety.

[Sloan]

Charges still possible for Amtrak engineer in Phila. derailment
 
SNIP:[/size]"There are a not-insignificant number of victims who believe that Brandon Bostian needs to be held accountable in a criminal court of law," said Bob Mongeluzzi, who with Tom Kline is representing 30 people injured in the derailment.[/size]

http://www.post-gaze...es/201606080154

Edited by KevinKorell, 08 June 2016 - 10:43 AM.

[CNJRoss]

NTSB report (.pdf):

 

Derailment of Amtrak Passenger Train 188

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

May 12, 2015

[KevinKorell]

DNAinfo, 7/15/16:

Rockaway Football Player Killed in Amtrak Crash Gets Street Renamed for Him

 

 The corner of a high school football field will be named for Justin Zemser, a star player and midshipman at the United States Navy who was killed last year in an Amtrak crash.

Article

[KevinKorell]

Seattle, WA Times, 8/9/16:

Amtrak settlements silencing crash victims

Amtrak has started settling lawsuits with victims of last year’s deadly derailment in Philadelphia, and lawyers involved in the process say a strict confidentiality provision prevents them and their clients from talking about how they’re doing or how much money they’ve received.

Update

[CNJRoss]

Philly.com, 9/21:
 

Retired Philly cop who led call center during 2015 Amtrak derailment: 'Worst scenario'

 

On the night of May 12, 2015, a northbound Amtrak Northeast Regional train derailed in Port Richmond, killing seven passengers and injuring more than 200.

 

For Lt. William Schatzle, it was the most challenging night of a long career in the Philadelphia Police Department.

 

Schatzle, who became a police officer in 1982 and worked in the Communications Bureau for 13 years until he retired in January, said the 911 calls started pouring in almost immediately after the train derailed about 9:30.

 

"We started receiving calls from passengers on the train, and the biggest problem with that was that it was dark, and they were going to New York, and they didn't know their exact location," said Schatzle, 63. "A lot of them couldn't tell us anything."

 

Schatzle and the 22 officers in the call center who were under his command that night were honored Wednesday in a ceremony at Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 in Northeast Philadelphia.  .  .  .

 

Continue here.

[KevinKorell]

Philadelphia, PA Inquirer, 10/27/16:

Amtrak settles train crash claims for $265 million

 

In one of the largest rail crash settlements in U.S. history, federal district Judge Legrome Davis Thursday signed off on a $265 million payout by Amtrak for the 2015 derailment in Philadelphia of commuter train 188 that claimed eight lives and injured more than 200.

Read this update.

[KevinKorell]

Philadelphia, PA Inquirer, 11/10/16:

Man who posed as federal agent during Amtrak derailment sentenced to probation

 

A police vest and a federal law enforcement title helped ensure Michael Alvaro often found a place at the center of a crisis.

 

Lending a hand to state police in 2014, he discovered what he believed to be a brick of heroin in the trunk of a drunk driver's car. He offered his help three months later to solve a murder case. And when Amtrak Train 188 derailed in Port Richmond last year killing eight, it was Alvaro who was left to guard the impact crater.

Article

[CNJRoss]

The Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA 1/26/17:
 

Engineer in fatal Philly crash sues Amtrak

 

 

The engineer who drove the Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia in 2015, killing eight people, has sued the railroad company, alleging that it failed to provide a safe work environment after a nearby train was reportedly hit by a projectile minutes before his crash.

 

SNIP

 

Bostian's three-page complaint asserts that his train was "under attack":

 

"On or about May 12, 2015, and for some time prior thereto, plaintiff was employed by defendant Amtrak as an engineer and on that date in the performance of his duties he sustained serious, permanent and painful personal injuries. While operating a train that was under attack by projectiles, one of which caused plaintiff to become disoriented and or unconscious, plaintiff was caused to sustain injuries due to the negligence and carelessness of the defendant."

 

More here.

 

Note:  "Update" date/time at top of article is incorrect; "Published" date/time at bottom is correct.