All of these train wrecks are getting ridiculous.  Why should anyone ride on these trains when they are not safe.? Someone is not doing their job when a piece of equipment is on the tracks.  We have  to investigate and set up better security.  We have too many people that want to cause destruction in this country.    The leaders that handle our trains should take it as seriously as the airport does and that is not happening.  With all of the technology available a lot more could be done to protect our trains and people.

kommonsentsjane

Officials work at the scene of the remains of one of two people killed after an Amtrak train struck a piece of construction equipment on the tracks and derailed in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Two killed after Amtrak train slams into backhoe

CHESTER, Pa. — Two Amtrak workers were killed and dozens of passengers were injured when a train bound for Washington, D.C., slammed into a backhoe south of Philadelphia on Sunday morning, authorities said.
The tragedy, which halted service along much of the Northeast corridor, came less than one year after an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia killed eight people.

Amtrak Vice President Stephen Gardner said the lead engine of the Palmetto train, which runs from New York City to Savannah, Ga., derailed at about 8 a.m. ET with 341 passengers and a crew of seven. Chester Fire Commissioner Travis Thomas said two people were killed.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was told by Amtrak board chairman Anthony Coscia that the backhoe operator and a supervisor, both Amtrak employees, were killed, the Associated Press reported.

Schumer, speaking in New York, said it’s unclear whether the backhoe was performing regular maintenance or was clearing debris from high winds overnight.

Gardner said 31 passengers were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Other passengers were being transported by bus to train stations in Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del.

“Local emergency responders are on the scene and an investigation is ongoing. Northeast Corridor service between New York and Philadelphia is suspended,” Amtrak said in a statement. Amtrak later announced that service between Wilmington and Philadelphia was suspended but was expected to resume within hours.
Scores of police, firefighters and Red Cross representatives swarmed the area Sunday. Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Matthew Lehner said federal investigators were on the scene, and the National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators.
Donovan Bryan, a Defense Department worker from Springfield, Va., said he was in the third car from the front when the train, rolling “full bore,” hit the construction equipment.

“I heard the bang and saw the flames shoot up, and then the train eventually came to a halt after maybe around a minute or so,” he said while waiting for his wife to pick him up at a staging area set up at a local church.

“You could feel the hit, and then (the train car) jumped and I saw flames,” he said. “And I felt the heat from the flames.”

kommonsentsjane