By Donna Leinwand, Andrea Stone andAlan Levin, USA TODAY
DC commuter train crash kills 7
An investigation is still underway as to why a Washington commuter train rear-ended another one that was stopped on the tracks killing seven and injuring 70.
An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board said that the train was part of an aging fleet that officials were trying to phase out on account of safety concerns.
The transit system didn't do what was asked, and despite warnings beginning in 2006, kept the trains on the tracks.
The crash occurred after two senators requested Congress to approve funding for a new railroad safety devise that would prevent trains from crashing, "positive train control."
The article on this topic was a little more extensive, having quotes from victims and those who witnessed the crash. It was interesting to read, but this sums it up. There was a quote in the article as follows: "'We'll find out what happened," said John Catoe, transit general manager. "We'll fix what happened.'" This was an insensitive statement in my opinion. You can't "fix what happened." You cant fix lives that were lost. There is no coming back from that. The only thing you can do is make sure it doesn't happen again. Warnings were ignored, and the ignorance cost 7 lives. If people are failing to maintain railroad transits, it makes me wonder. What else is being neglected that could affect me?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-22-metro-collision_N.htm?poe=HFMostPopular
I was there when this happened. Locals in Washington were telling us that the Red Line, where the train accident happened, was the worst line to take. They were saying it always breaks down and causes problems.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty scary though. Thousands of people ride that thing everyday. When I'm using them, I wish Oklahoma City had these. When things like this happen though, I'm okay with driving my own truck (possibly more dangerous statistically)