So the Amtrak train was still accelerating seconds before the crash...

[catnhatnh]

Am I crazy or does anybody else have a little alarm in their head calling "Germanwings!"???

[alfie]

1. That's what I thought.

I sure hope not,

[Brickbat]

2. I don't.

[In_The_Wind]

3. What bothers me is the request for more speed had to be repeated if it was working correctly.

I think it was a mechanical malfunction.

[jwirr]

9. I hope it was mechanical but an expert of The Last Word told Lawrence O that there is a mechanism

that can override the safety system by just flipping it off.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I don't

what I have, and this is pure speculation, is major mechanical failure\overwork.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Not at all...

Suicide was only considered in the Flt 9525 incident because of Lubitz' psychiatric and professional history. As of this moment, there's nothing indicating the same type of health issue with the engineer of NR-188.

[Backwoodsrider]

6. I wondered that too but the train driver appears to be very forthcoming

I hope if it was mechanical they find evidence that proves it was so the driver is cleared

[former9thward]

16. He appears very unforthcoming.

He claims he can't recall what he was doing. He would have known he was speeding. He could have stopped it. The train does not run itself.

[randys1]

7. Proper infrastructure would remove the ability for the operator to cause harm

either on purpose or not.

Right?

Hasnt that been confirmed

Isnt there a system for that?

[B2G]

12. Yes, it's called PTP

and it was installed but not turned on.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/05/14/exclusive-train-control-was-installed-turned-off-at-time-of-amtrak-crash-congressmen-say

[catnhatnh]

8. I know this is wildly speculative...

...and PROBABLY wrong. And yet you have a guy who is said to be a fanatic about trains in a one-man control situation who accelerates at the most dangerous moment and afterwards has either amnesia or "amnesia"...

[Gormy Cuss]

10. A train fanatic interested in suicide by train would know better ways to do it.

Like switching to an occupied track and slamming the locomotive straight into another car. Most likely explanation involving engineer responsibility is falling asleep at the controls.

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. He has a head injury.

Amnesia is not unheard of in trauma.

[FLPanhandle]

13. The alarm in my head was more Grateful Dead

"driving that train, high on cocaine, Casey Jones, you better watch your speed."

[onyourleft]

14. No, I don't. n/t

[MindPilot]

15. Nope. Crashing a train seems like a spectacularly unreliable suicide method.

Kind of like jumping out of a second story window. Yeah, you might die, but chances are you'll just end up bruised and broken.