I know there’s a lot of people on CC from the northeast corridor. Hope everyone and their families are safe tonight.
Very sad. Five reported being killed at this point.
Yes - I rode that train in March. Scary.
DH rode that train yesterday. He prefers Amtrak to NYC instead of flying – he get work done, and it’s much more spacious.
Thoughts to all who are affected.
Just heard about this this morning. Just awful.
Hope everyone’s loved ones are ok who may take that route on occasion or on a regular basis.
So scary. I think our infrastructure is way more shaky than every day people realize. That’s the train we take all the time, my daughter really has taken it a lot to go see family.
Daughter takes Amtrak through that stretch near Frankford and Sedgley several times a semester to get to and from Lancaster, PA from our home in Upstate NY.Most recently a few weeks ago. There’s a pretty sharp curve to the north where that train left the tracks. RIP to those who perished and wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured.
My kids take Philly-NYC Amtrak all the times. I pray for the passengers in that unfortunate trip.
S2 has taken that train route often since he’s been in DC for the last 7 years. It’s scary to think this could’ve happened to him. Thoughts and prayers to those those affected by this accident.
This is so upsetting to me and my prayers go out to the dead and injured. I began my legal career (many years ago) as a lawyer for a major railroad, and I can not begin to tell you how bad the Amtrak rail system is. I traveled by train a lot back then (free) and I was in a derailment accident in the Philadelphia area in 1977. It was in the Downingtown area. We just had a few injuries because the cars leaned over into some power lines and didn’t tip all the way. It is a very helpless feeling.
It is now being reported that at least six are dead and one was a midshipman at the Naval Academy. My heart goes out to the families of all those killed or injured, but especially to his parents.
We live close to DC - union station. In the past week two metro stations were having problems and closed. This hits close to home and we had been contemplating going to NY on the train in the next few days. Glad we didn’t go yesterday.
Family and friends have been on that trip several times over the years. The crash brings back memories of a colleague and spouse whom were killed in a derailment on that route in the mid-1980s.
We live in the DC area and have taken this train north several times (taking the increasingly unreliable/unsafe Metro to Union Station). My D’s college will be near an Amtrak station four hours to the south of us, and I’ve been lobbying for her to take the train instead of me driving her to school and back for every break. She’ saw the accident on the news last night and now doesn’t want to take the train.
This country needs to start investing more in its infrastructure. When you travel to other countries, you realize how far behind we are falling. Roads, bridges, rail system, public transportation…
Not surprising, our infrastructure is a mess. The Tunnels that go into NYC that Amtrak uses are well over 100 years old and are overloaded, and bridges and such are shaky to say the least, but there isn’t the will it seems to fix things (and if hear someone say maybe we shouldn’t be running trains, that if it was worthwhile private operations would run it…put it this way, the airlines are heavily supported by indirect government subsidies, but no one sees them).
The worst thing I read was this violinist, who sent a tweet saying"Amtrak, thanks for derailing my train, can I please get my violin back from the second car of the train"…you talk about an insensitive a**hole, 6 people died, some are missing, 180 are hurt, and while I know better than anyone the value of a violin a musician like that likely has and its value both financially and professionally, but talk about a self absorbed twit, pathetic.
Infrastructure? The train was recorded speeding past a surveillance camera.
One of my friends and his family just missed that very train by a few minutes after a conference in the Philly area.
They were quite concerned upon hearing about the accident, especially since some of their friends from the conference did make that very train. Fortunately their friends are fine, but they were all a bit shaken up afterwards.
Metro in DC has been having aging pains of late, too. Because it’s funded by DC/MC/VA, as well as the fed gov’t there are often disagreements about how funding should be appropriated and for which projects. Deferred maintenance (the system is now 40 years old) is becoming a significant issue. DH’s regular commute is on the Red Line. How long it takes to get to/from work is a never-ending guesstimate.
Amtrak track has a lot of speed restrictions on it, because it cannot handle speeds it should be able to do, the accela trains are built for almost 200 mph service, but are restricted in speed because of track limitations. I don’t know whether this was caused by infrastructure or human failure, I have heard conflicting accounts, but it doesn’t change the fact that infrastructure very well may be the cause.
Midshipman has been identified: Justin Zemser. Probably going home to see mom and dad. So incredibly sad.
http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-sprintfb/mtt/justin_zemser_925063.html