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Re: PTC failure: Toledo Blade on CSX Carey wreck
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 10-03-2019 - 10:08
> the Cascade derailment near Seattle, commenters have been adamant in saying we can't draw premature conclusions about the cause.
About two weeks ago I ran into an old friend who was working for Atk in this area at the time of the wreck (still is). We got to talking about it: the train was traveling down a 2% grade at track speed and the engineer was afforded insufficient time/trips beforehand to familiarize himself with the territory. The first part is a territorial thing, a given situation which doesn't change from day to day, but the second part is a management failure pure and simple: not permitting, demanding, nor encouraging adequately and sufficient training. It's example of what I've taken to calling the "any old warm body in the slot" mentality so typical of management these days (and which also happens to apply to the managers themselves).
About two weeks ago I ran into an old friend who was working for Atk in this area at the time of the wreck (still is). We got to talking about it: the train was traveling down a 2% grade at track speed and the engineer was afforded insufficient time/trips beforehand to familiarize himself with the territory. The first part is a territorial thing, a given situation which doesn't change from day to day, but the second part is a management failure pure and simple: not permitting, demanding, nor encouraging adequately and sufficient training. It's example of what I've taken to calling the "any old warm body in the slot" mentality so typical of management these days (and which also happens to apply to the managers themselves).
