Amtrak must take immediate steps to improve the safety of its busiest route after a derailment in Philadelphia last week killed eight passengers and injured more than 200, US federal regulators said on Saturday.
The US Federal Railroad Administration ordered Amtrak to add a speed-control system to all northbound trains along the stretch where a train crashed on Tuesday night as it headed to New York.
The automatic train control (ATC) system is already in use on southbound trains near the derailment site.
“The actions we have instructed Amtrak to take are aimed at improving safety on this corridor immediately, but we won’t hesitate to require the railroad to do more to improve safety as the accident’s causes become clearer,” US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in a news release.
Amtrak said in a statement it would implement the administration’s directives immediately.
Acting administrator Sarah Feinberg said the most important step would be full implementation of positive train control, a more robust system for avoiding accidents.
US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Robert Sumwalt said last week that positive train control would have prevented the accident.
Under current law, the rail industry must adopt the technology by the end of this year.
The train was traveling north at more than twice the 80.5kph speed limit when it entered a sharp curve and derailed, leaving a trail of tangled metal and human carnage alongside the track.
ATC detects when a train is traveling above the speed limit, sending a signal to the engineer. If the operator fails to react, the system applies the brakes.
The Federal Railroad Administration’s order came as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority confirmed that an unidentified projectile hit one of its commuter trains operating near the derailment site about 20 to 30 minutes before the crash.
In a fresh twist to the investigation, Sumwalt revealed on Friday that the Amtrak train and a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train might have been hit by objects shortly before the accident. The NTSB has called in the FBI to examine part of the locomotive’s shattered windshield.
Before the disclosures, the federal probe focused on why the train accelerated from 113kph to 171kph in the minute before it derailed.
The board has not ruled out mechanical issues, human error or a deliberate act by the engineer, among other factors.
The Federal Railroad Administration also ordered the publicly funded railroad to assess the risk of curves along the corridor and install technology to prevent derailments where curves require much slower speeds than on the track approaching them. Amtrak must also increase signals that alert engineers and conductors to maximum speeds.
The man at the controls of the Amtrak train that derailed, Brandon Bostian, told investigators during an interview on Friday that he has no memory of what happened.
The engineer, whom Sumwalt described as “extremely cooperative” with investigators, received a concussion when the train crashed.
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority spokeswoman Kristin Geiger said it was not yet known whether the projectile was thrown at the train or sent by other means, or what the projectile was.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number