In his Editor's Comment, Chris Jackson throws light on just how poor USA rail safety is compared with the very high standards we have forged in the UK. It still remains unclear why Amtrak train 188 was running at around double the permitted speed when it derailed on a curve at Philadelphia on May 12. Eight passengers died and 238 were injured. What is clear are the shockingly low safety standards on the so-called premier north East corridor linking New York, Boston and Washington DC.
The 735km route carries 365m and around 2bn tonne of freight every year so it is very busy. Yet Amtrak struggles to find enough cash to keep the line either in good repair, or equipped with safe modern stock. Carriage designs date back to the 1960s and so at least one of train 188s carriages disintegrated. In other carriages, passengers were injured as they were hurled around inside when their seats broke free. The words 'Harrow & Wealdstone' and 'Clapham' spring to mind. Automatic Train Control exists for southbound trains at the crash site, but not for northbound trains.
President Obama's transport budget called for a hike in Amtrak funding to almost $2.5bn a year - yet incredibly, less than 24 hours after this terrible crash, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee voted on May 13 to cut Amtrak spending by $250m (18%), from $1.4bn to $1.1bn! A proposed amendment to increase finding specifically to the NE corridor of $556m was rejected, even as the eight Philadelphia victims lay in a mortuary. Jackson's parting shot quoted Amtrak President Joe Boardman: "The nation cannot afford to let a railroad that carries half of Amtrak's trains and 80% of the nation's commuters fall apart."
The picture painted by Jackson is of an operational safety situation in the US today, which is akin to the period in the UK bookended by Harrow (1952) and Clapham (1988). - NH
We read it in: Railway Gazette International, June 2015
