Nobody would be going to jail... It's a relatively new technology, and legislation is already in place mandating it be universal by the end of 2018. I find difficulty in faulting either Amtrak or Sound Transit for not yet having 100% coverage -- both are actively rolling it out.
Outside of PTC, multiple safety protocols were violated, with responsibility likely falling to the Engineer and possibly Conductor. In systems not equipped with PTC, the engineer and conductor both are responsible for knowing the allowable speed for a given block of track, with the conductor being responsible for "enforcing" the safe operation of the train -- i.e. yell at, or even remove the engineer from the controls and/or initiate emergency braking.
(This is based on the way CSX operated when I was a freight conductor in '05. Obviously a decade later and a different railroad the responsibility hierarchy probably varies a bit, but I imagine it isn't terribly far off)
I still think it's fair to question why it takes so long to deploy new transportation tech in the US. In many parts of Asia the rollout of something like PTC probably would have taken months rather than 10+ years (the act requiring it passed in 2008).
I don't disagree, but to suggest somebody go to jail over a single incident that could have been prevented by a technology already under deployment is equally ridiculous.
In 2005, PTC was a technology found almost strictly in yards and on local or regional lines where a single railroad operated both the rolling stock and track infrastructure. Seeing that in 2017, 12 years later, Amtrak is at 49% coverage on locomotives, and 67% on track coverage, the situation (from a PTC deployment standpoint) seems hardly criminal.
ATP you mean, not PTC. They are complementary. ATP systems ate designed to be dirt cheap to deploy. Somehow most of US track does not have any such support despite extremely low cost and maintenance of these.
Part of ERTMS level 1. Also a similar system is deployed in India.
Poland has an even simpler one, well used inductive ATS. German legacy system is similar. These are even deployed in Canada so not far. Are as old as 1900s.
US has that old inductive system as well. If used right, it can control speed too.
US regulators foolishly allowed the railways to not install this basic protection. Similarly, timed trip stops are not used.
> with the conductor being responsible for "enforcing" the safe operation of the train -- i.e. yell at, or even remove the engineer from the controls and/or initiate emergency braking.
Interesting that you mention this. There was a similar fatal train crash in 2003 [1] - remarkably similar circumstances to this one - in which the driver had a heart attack, resulting in excessive speed entering a curve, derailment, and collision with a rock wall.
The organizational culture at the time considered the driver to be the one firmly in charge of the train. Also, the guard/conductor was not in the forward cabin with the driver, but at the rear of the train, a historical anachronism.
After this crash, there was an update to training and procedures that emphasised the guard's responsibility in braking the train if the driver neglected to or was unable to.
Nobody would be going to jail... It's a relatively new technology, and legislation is already in place mandating it be universal by the end of 2018. I find difficulty in faulting either Amtrak or Sound Transit for not yet having 100% coverage -- both are actively rolling it out.
Outside of PTC, multiple safety protocols were violated, with responsibility likely falling to the Engineer and possibly Conductor. In systems not equipped with PTC, the engineer and conductor both are responsible for knowing the allowable speed for a given block of track, with the conductor being responsible for "enforcing" the safe operation of the train -- i.e. yell at, or even remove the engineer from the controls and/or initiate emergency braking.
(This is based on the way CSX operated when I was a freight conductor in '05. Obviously a decade later and a different railroad the responsibility hierarchy probably varies a bit, but I imagine it isn't terribly far off)