GOP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By Tony Bizjak
>
> tbizjak@sacbee.com
> My feed
>
> An Amtrak engineer mistakenly drove a Capitol
> Corridor train at nearly twice the allowed speed
> through a track switch near Davis in December,
> causing the train to jerk violently, injuring five
> occupants, according to documents obtained by The
> Sacramento Bee through the federal Freedom of
> Information Act.
>
> Amtrak has declined to discuss the incident, which
> involved a train heading west from Sacramento to
> Davis at 7:10 a.m. on Dec. 7, despite repeated
> requests since December. The agency instead sent
> The Bee a brief email statement late Monday saying
> an investigation found “human error” and added
> that the “train crew’s performance has been
> addressed.”
>
> The Amtrak reports obtained by The Bee reveal the
> engineer took the train at 78 miles per hour into
> a track switch that had a 40 mph speed limit.
> Train crew members, in written statements,
> described a dramatic few seconds aboard the #527
> train as cars jolted one way then the other,
> tossing passengers, bags and coffees around.
>
> The Amtrak incident report, filed in January,
> concluded a “speed violation” had occurred, and
> determined that the engineer “lost situational
> awareness” and “did not recognize the action to be
> taken.” The engineer’s name was redacted from
> those reports.
>
> The document notes that another train crew member,
> whose name and job title were redacted, “failed to
> recognize that it was their responsibility to take
> action when (redacted) did not.” It also makes
> brief note that inadequate supervision,
> substandard communication, and substandard mental
> or physical conditions played a role in the errors
> that led to the incident, but does not elaborate.
>
> According to the incident report, the train passed
> a track signal indicating that the switch ahead
> was open and that the adjacent track was clear.
> “This signal requires the train to proceed on
> diverging route not exceeding prescribed speed
> through turnout. The maximum authorized speed
> through the turnout is 40 mph. Train 527 entered
> the diverging route at approximately 78 mph. The
> engineer was operating from the lead end of the
> move.”
>
> Federal records show five people were injured –
> four passengers and one crew member. All injuries
> appeared to be minor. One woman suffered a broken
> thumb.
>
> Though injuries were mild, several passengers say
> the train rocked back and forth so dramatically
> they thought it was going to derail. One woman
> said she screamed, thinking she might die. One
> said a crew member later told passengers she
> thought the train was going to “eat dirt.”
>
> Three train crew members wrote brief statements
> describing the moments the train’s five cars hit
> the track switch in succession.
>
> “As we (crossed over) from (track one to two), I
> heard a loud bang,” one wrote. “I could see the
> café car leaning about 40 degrees to the right. I
> shouted everyone ‘sit down,’ then our car hit and
> rocked hard to the right then back to the left
> hard. People and objects were tossed about.”
>
> Another wrote, “Passengers were thrown around in
> the cars – coffees and bags flying through the
> car.”
>
> After the train righted itself, crews inspected
> the train in Davis, then it continued until
> arriving in Martinez. There, the passenger with
> the broken thumb was transported via ambulance to
> a hospital.
>
> The train was removed from service and crew
> members were taken for drug and alcohol testing.
> The incident report notes that employee discipline
> assessments were “submitted,” but it does not say
> whether employees were in fact disciplined.
>
> Federal Railroad Administration spokeswoman
> Desiree French said her agency initially looked
> into the incident, but left it up to Amtrak to
> conduct the analysis.
>
> “FRA’s investigator determined the Amtrak incident
> on the Capitol Corridor did not meet the threshold
> for a full investigation, and (Amtrak) was
> instructed to provide an incident report,” French
> said in an email to The Bee.
>
> Several passengers contacted by The Bee expressed
> anger that Amtrak has not offered a full public
> explanation of what happened, how it occurred and
> what steps, if any, Amtrak has taken to reduce the
> chance of similar incidents.
>
> “It’s incensing that a corporation receiving ...
> tax-funded grants annually is refusing
> transparency on what could have been a
> catastrophic incident,” said one of the passengers
> that day, Matt Williams.
>
> Ron Goldman, a Los Angeles attorney and critic of
> railroad safety efforts, contends the rail agency
> owes it to riders to tell them what happened.
>
> “The public is not an adversary,” he said. “The
> public is an interested party that has the right
> and the need to know what is going on. It is the
> public that suffers the loss when things are not
> properly maintained or operated.”
>
> Although the train did not derail, Goldman said
> “the difference between a minor issue and a major
> calamity can be a matter of a fraction of an inch
> or a half of a mile per hour. These things are
> very dangerous. You can’t measure safety by saying
> we escaped, or the train arrived.”
>
> The Federal Railroad Administration incident
> database shows only a handful of speed-related
> crashes annually. But speed-related derailments
> have ended in deaths in recent years.
>
> A 2012 crash in Canada killed three engineers and
> injured dozens of passengers when the train failed
> to slow at a track switch, despite signals to do
> so. Eight people were killed and 200 injured
> during a Philadelphia derailment in 2015 when an
> Amtrak train went into a 50 mph curve at 106 mph.
>
> The National Transportation Safety Board concluded
> the Philadelphia crash likely would not have
> occurred if the train had been equipped with a
> computer-based automatic braking system known as
> Positive Train Control, or PTC. Similarly, UP
> officials told The Bee that they believe PTC would
> have averted the December Amtrak jolt near Davis
> because the computer would have taken control of
> the train when the engineer failed to slow it.
>
> Amtrak, UP and other train operators are under
> federal mandate to have PTC installed by the end
> of 2018.
>
> The train involved in the December jolt outside of
> Davis was one of several daily Capitol Corridor
> trains, operated by Amtrak, that run between
> Sacramento and the Bay Area. Although operated by
> Amtrak, the Capitol Corridor system is also
> overseen by a board of officials from local cities
> and counties.
>
> Capitol Corridor chief David Kutrosky said he
> received the same email statement from Amtrak that
> was sent to the Bee, and has forwarded it to his
> board. He said an Amtrak official also told him
> Amtrak has ordered train engineers and conductors
> to step up their onboard communications as their
> trains pass signals.
>
> “Knock on wood, we have had no incidents since
> then,” Kutrosky said.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> ---------According to the incident report, the
> train passed a track signal indicating that the
> switch ahead was open and that the adjacent track
> was clear.
>
> “This signal requires the train to proceed on
> diverging route not exceeding prescribed speed
> through turnout. The maximum authorized speed
> through the turnout is 40 mph. Train 527 entered
> the diverging route at approximately 78 mph. The
> engineer was operating from the lead end of the
> move.”
>
> Federal records show five people were injured –
> four passengers and one crew member. All injuries
> appeared to be minor. One woman suffered a broken
> thumb.
>
>
> Three train crew members wrote brief statements
> describing the moments the train’s five cars hit
> the track switch in succession.
>
> “As we (crossed over) from (track one to two), I
> heard a loud bang,” one wrote. “I could see the
> café car leaning about 40 degrees to the right. I
> shouted everyone ‘sit down,’ then our car hit and
> rocked hard to the right then back to the left
> hard. People and objects were tossed about.”
>
> Another wrote, “Passengers were thrown around in
> the cars – coffees and bags flying through the
> car.”
>
> After the train righted itself, crews inspected
> the train in Davis, then it continued until
> arriving in Martinez. There, the passenger with
> the broken thumb was transported via ambulance to
> a hospital.
>
> The train was removed from service and crew
> members were taken for drug and alcohol testing.
> The incident report notes that employee discipline
> assessments were “submitted,” but it does not say
> whether employees were in fact
> disciplined.----------


It think it was either bad road bad or just plain bad UP bad track conditions, Just saying boss