No evidence so far yet, but... Amtrak Train Possibly Hit Before Wreck
Mr. Sumwalt said that investigators had found a fist-size circular area of impact on the left side of the Amtrak train’s windshield and that they had asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to analyze it. He said that the F.B.I. had been called in because it has the forensics expertise needed for the investigation, but that it had not yet begun its analysis.
More below the
Orange Omnilepticon.
The GOP narrative so far has been "Amtrak waste of money yadda yadda yadda... GOP cuts did not endanger anyone blah blah blah... Another example of government screwing things up etc. etc. etc.... Liberals just want to throw money at problems and so on and so on..."
Never mind that Amtrak is a national resource of some strategic importance - especially in the Northeast corridor. The disruption of the tracks and loss of service is affecting the lives of thousands on a daily basis, and there will be a hit to the economy as well.
Now it's too soon to say that the damage to the windshield means anything. The engineer doesn't recall the minutes before the crash - not unknown in accidents - and he did suffer injuries in the crash which could explain why he can't recall what happened.
"The next thing he recalls is being thrown around, coming to, finding his bag, getting his cell phone and dialing 911," Goggin told the news program. Goggin said Bostian was injured in the crash and had 14 staples placed in his head and suffered a knee injury. "What he looked was exhausted," Goggin told ABC.
There's no evidence yet that any terrorist group was involved, and speculation that someone shot at the train is still only speculation.
Amtrak reports its trains take a certain amount of damage in that area all the time.
“We have reports of trains’ being struck by objects in this area about two to three times a month,” Ms. Williams said. Mostly, she said, the objects are thrown by children and do no damage.
The possibility of some idiot with a gun randomly shooting at Amtrak trains in the area is still only speculation at this point (if scarily plausible these days), as is the possibility that the engineer was injured/distracted by it in such a way as to cause him to accelerate the train instead of slowing. I repeat - it is only speculation.
But... here's the thing. If the crash was the result of an act that could be called domestic terrorism (and an attack on what is seen as a Federal Government passenger rail train would seem to qualify), what follows from that?
The GOP loves to scare us with the idea that foreign terrorists could strike anywhere, any time. Consider 'security theater' at the airports, and all the time and money that eats up, or fun things like the No Fly list that no one can tell you why you might be on it, or how you can be taken off it. The GOP takes terror threats against airplanes seriously - 911 after all - so what if they discover that rail travel is also a target? Will they demand security be beefed up (and how will they do that for thousands of miles of tracks?), and will they provide money to do so?
Or what if it turns out foreign agents are not involved? What if it turns out it was just someone exercising their 2nd amendment rights - in a criminal manner? Amtrak has been attacked before, but that was before 911 'changed everything'. Home grown threats against the government don't seem to engender the same level of panic response from the GOP, as long as people of color aren't involved, or dangerous leftist radicals.
But - does it really matter? If the accident turns out to have been a result of hostile action, or if it turns out to have been to human error or some other explanation, the point is still that the safety systems Amtrak is working on installing probably would have prevented the accident. And those systems are only one aspect of a rail system that needs a lot of investment.
[Former Amtrak President David] Gunn said the railroad has been modernizing its fleet, rebuilding older cars and purchasing some new locomotives. The locomotive involved in Tuesday night's crash was one of those.
But there are many more infrastructure-related improvements needed, said Puentes.
"The electrical system needs upgrading, there are tunnels that serve as pinch points that are over a century old in some cases. So there's been quite a bit of documentation showing how we need to invest in the Northeast Corridor because it is a very efficient route that does compete very well with other modes of transportation."
The last major accident on the railroad occurred in 1987, when a freight train ran into an Amtrak passenger train near Baltimore, killing 16.
(There's one
ticking time bomb in particular that needs to be addressed ASAP - but it's not happening.)
Over at Forbes, there's an interesting article by Stan Collender that suggests one reason why Amtrak (and other infrastructure needs) have a tough time getting funded is because the Federal government only funds things on a year to year basis - there's no real mechanism for funding programs over multiple years, what is called a Capital Budget.
...the federal government has a cash-based budget that treats everything [as] an operating expense.
Unlike some entities that have a accrual accounting and a capital budget, all spending in the federal budget is recorded in the year in which it occurs regardless of when the benefit is received. For example, the federal budget treats salaries, where the value occurs in the same year the services are performed, the same as building a new bridge, where the benefit are received over 50 years or longer.
That always makes infrastructure spending appear to be far more expensive in the short term and it explains much of the reason why Congress is less likely to approve it. Even when capital projects like automatic braking systems and track improvements make sense because they will increase safety, prevent deaths and injuries or enhance speed, they are far less likely to be approved because they appear to increase the deficit this year – that is, before the next election — by more than many members of Congress can stomach.
emphasis added
The article starts out however with some more pertinent points about Amtrak.
Amtrak is domestic spending, after all, and that’s something the tea party wing of the GOP has vowed to cut substantially.
Then add three things.
First, Republicans see Amtrak spending as primarily benefitting D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, that is, the mostly-blue states in the northeast corridor. The other major Amtrak route in southern California is in another blue state.
Second, many Republicans see funding for Amtrak as aiding unions that don’t support GOP candidates.
Third, there’s the overall GOP belief that less funding will lead to less effective government services. The more ineffective the services get the better they think it will be for the Republican Party’s mantra of cutting spending and making voters less happy about paying taxes.
emphasis added
That last emphasized point is the key here: Republicans do not want government to work. They do not want people to expect government can make a positive difference in their lives. In that context this NPR interview quote is worth noting:
ANDREW BRENNER: I trust Amtrak to get me to my destination safely. And I don't know that I'm ever going to be able to trust them to do that again.
ROSE: Brenner was sitting near the back of the train that derailed. He rides Amtrak a lot. In fact, he was planning to take it from Washington to New York every week for a new job. Now Brenner is rethinking that plan.
BRENNER: I don't know who in their right mind would feel comfortable stepping foot on an Amtrak train anywhere.
If the purpose of terrorism is to use fear to make people change their behavior and control them, well "Mission Accomplished". And...
ROSE: Regardless of when ridership returns to normal levels, Amtrak's financial problems will remain. That's according to Mark Burton, a transportation economist at the University of Tennessee. He says Amtrak spends a lot more money than it takes in from riders.
MARK BURTON: I don't know of any passenger rail system anyplace in the world that doesn't require some amount of subsidy. Perhaps there is such a thing, but I don't know of a profit-making passenger rail system anyplace on the planet.
ROSE: Congress has balked at picking up the tab for Amtrak. The day after the derailment, the House Appropriations Committee voted to cut a fifth of Amtrak's $1.4 billion budget. Some Democrats say underfunding might have led to this week's accident. But Republican House Speaker John Boehner rejected that idea.
emphasis added
(BTW, nice job NPR: Democrats say, Republicans say - but are there no actual experts who could give us a yes or no on this?)
The movement conservatism that is the GOP these days emphasizes the private over the public - the doctrine of selfishness carried out to point of self-destruction. The GOP will not support anything that does not enrich them personally or might weaken their grip on power.
The America of the 21st Century is crumbling because all the public improvements of the 19th and 20th Centuries are aging out, while the levels of investment needed to keep the country viable drop. And yet the size of the economy has not shrunk; it's even greater now than it was.
The country everywhere Republicans hold power is being treated like a once great business that is being run into the ground by a hostile management intent on extracting all possible value from the husk, while making as little investment as possible - and as long as the shareholders keep getting an adequate return, they don't give a shit. As for the workforce "sacrifices must be made to keep the company competitive" - but sacrifice always starts at the bottom, not in the board room.
Whether or not the Amtrak crash is ultimately blamed on what might be called an act of terrorism, the real threat to America continues.
UPDATE: I thought I'd link to a couple of previous Amtrak related posts while I was at it. Amtrak Gearing Up, Update x 3 has news of new equipment Amtrak has been finally getting. There are three videos, including one of what looks like the same kind of engine and cars involved in the crash undergoing testing back in 2013 before being certified for service. (Video below. The shots at 125 mph are amazing.) The second What Happens When We Invest in Infrastructure? looks at the economic impact on New York's struggling southern tier city of Elmira Heights when Amtrak finally got funding for new cars. Read the story, and you really have to ask why do Republicans hate America?
https://youtu.be/...
UPDATE #2 Here's an April article via Bill Moyers on America's infrastructure and the costs of updating it.
“Burning Our Bridges,” a new report from the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies, examines the infrastructure crisis in America. “All businesses — large and small — rely on our nation’s infrastructure for their success,” the report notes. “As President Barack Obama put it in this year’s State of the Union address, ‘21st century businesses need 21st century infrastructure — modern ports, stronger bridges, faster trains, and the fastest internet.’ To bring our infrastructure up to 21st century standards, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimated in 2013 that it would cost $3.6 trillion by 2020. Instead, Congress has slashed infrastructure spending to the lowest levels since the post-WWII era…