Amtrak to install long-sought cameras in locomotives
Source: AP-Excite
By JOAN LOWY
WASHINGTON (AP) Amtrak said Tuesday it will install video cameras inside locomotive cabs to record the actions of train engineers, a move that follows a deadly derailment earlier this month in which investigators are searching for clues to the train engineer's actions before the crash.
The Amtrak engineer, Brandon Bostian, suffered a head injury in the accident in Philadelphia and has told investigators he can't remember what happened. Northeast Regional train 188 accelerated to a speed of 106 miles per hour in the last minute before entering a curve where it derailed. The speed limit for the curve is 50 mph. The crash left eight people dead and about 200 injured.
The train was equipped with a "black box" data recorder and an outward-facing camera focused on the track ahead, but neither of those devices reveals what was happening inside the cab.
The National Transportation Safety Board has been recommending that the Federal Railroad Administration require passenger and freight train cabs to have audio recorders since the late 1990s. They revised that recommendation five years ago to include inward-facing sound and video recorders.
FULL story at link.
FILE - In this May 12, 2015 file photo, emergency personnel work the scene of a train wreck An Amtrak train headed to New York City derailed and crashed in Philadelphia. Amtrak says it will install video cameras inside locomotive cabs that record the actions of train engineers. The move follows a deadly derailment earlier this month in which investigators are searching for clues to the train engineer's actions just before the crash. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek, File)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150526/us-amtrak-crash-cameras-8717da0ac1.html
jschurchin
(1,456 posts)It won't do anything to PREVENT a disaster. It's kind of like a PFA, it's SUPPOSED to prevent one person from another, unfortunately it doesn't always work that way.
The simplest way to prevent another disaster like Philly is to add a second person in the Locomotive. Unfortunately that would cost Amtrak $250 a day and we all know that's WAY to much to protect the traveling public.
I can hear it know "As we all can see from the video, he apparently is having some sort of medical emergency. Know we know why 8 people are dead. Case closed."
thesquanderer
(11,954 posts)Good point that cameras are, at best, about preventing a future accident, they can't prevent the one that's being recorded. But $250 a day won't cover a second engineer.
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Locomotive_Engineer/Salary
Trains runs 24 hours, so you need 3 engineers per day if they work 8 hour shifts, so triple the numbers you see at that site. Also, that site tells you what the pay is, but actual cost per employee is noticeably higher than pay, so add more again. (Benefits, i.e. health insurance, vacation time, and required FICA/unemployment contributions)
Still, when the final figure is divided by the average number of passengers on an Amtrak train, I bet most riders would gladly pay the increase that would cover it, if they knew what it was going toward.
jschurchin
(1,456 posts)I am employed by a class 1. I know what we make, I'm just not a big fan of throwing anyone's salary out there.
Your last paragraph is the point I was trying to make. Exactly how much is the protection of the general public worth? $750/day, $1,000/day, $1,250/day? It seem's according to Amtrak, it's worth 1 engineer and a cab camera.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)in the cab and that fatigue is a huge issue. Doubtful, though. It'll just be used to punish.