Althouse: "I think the fact that I walked off kind of made it even more surreal because a lot of people didn't walk off. I walked off as if, like, I was in a movie."

May 13, 2015

"I think the fact that I walked off kind of made it even more surreal because a lot of people didn't walk off. I walked off as if, like, I was in a movie."

"There were people standing around, people with bloody faces. There were people, chairs, tables mangled about in the compartment... power cables all buckled down as you stepped off the train."

Train wreck in Philadelphia.

18 comments:

traditionalguy said...: There is no confirmation of the report the train was being used to train Germanwings personnel, train division.

Fox News had their new star Megyn Kelly doing a live, uninterrupted breaking news show on this last night.

She was really very good at that. She kept one intelligent train passenger on a cell phone interview from the Hospital and communicated with her very effectively for over 45 minutes. It was first class work with just the right pitch of concern but without fake crisis mourning.; 5/13/15, 6:48 AM
lemondog said...: Just missed hitting tanker cars in the area.; 5/13/15, 7:38 AM
Phil 314 said...: Reminiscent of an early scene in the movie "Unbreakable" except that the Bruce Willis character was the only one to walk away.; 5/13/15, 7:42 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Train wreck in Philadelphia.

At first I assumed it was referring to the local government.; 5/13/15, 8:03 AM
lemondog said...: One of America's Worst Train Crashes Happened on the Same Curve as Amtrak 188—72 Years Ago; 5/13/15, 8:06 AM
Etienne said...: The engineer in me cringes at the thought of railroad tracks in the 21st Century, but then I realize that half the country is rooting for an old woman to lead it.

At that point, I just flip the paper over, and see how tough the crossword puzzle is.

Sometimes violent death by 19th century technology is a blessing, when you know your country is finished as a nation.; 5/13/15, 9:04 AM
MadisonMan said...: Wow. My sister takes that train occasionally, but not last night, thankfully. What a thing to live through for the survivors!

That it occurred on a big curve makes me wonder what happened.; 5/13/15, 9:53 AM
Scott said...: MadisonMan said...

That it occurred on a big curve makes me wonder what happened.

At this point it's hard to say. Could be human error (train was running too fast for the curve and jumped the track say), mechanical failure on the trial or rails (which was the 1943 crash, apparently an axle snapped), or for the conspiracy-minded, deliberate human activity (read up on the French Resistance and what they did to rail travel sometime). Until we have facts, really can;t say, although I'm sure that the facts will come out, in the lawsuits against Amtrack if nowhere else.; 5/13/15, 11:38 AM
Johanna Lapp said...: Local stations and cable news going nonstop on this. Real victims are the Philly pols whose campaign commercials are being pre-empted. Voters in Tuesday's primaries are going to have to choose based on accurate news reports instead of sleazy attack ads.; 5/13/15, 12:59 PM
Johanna Lapp said...: Which, come to think about it, is exactly how Bloonberg became NYC mayor in 2001.; 5/13/15, 1:00 PM
lemondog said...: Recovered recorders. Continue looking for possible survivors....

Data Recorders Recovered in Amtrak Train Derailment in Philadelphia That Killed 7; 5/13/15, 1:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Why bother investigating when the WaPo already knows the cause? It's Republicans!; 5/13/15, 1:18 PM
lemondog said...: Whooooa

Feds: Derailed Amtrak train was traveling at more than 100 mph

Max speed should have been no more than 50 mph.; 5/13/15, 3:00 PM
Etienne said...: It would be a simple task to monitor a trains speed.

The $50 question is, why they don't.

Oh well, shovel some dirt over the bodies, and back to the dirty technology that Congress subsidizes.; 5/13/15, 3:17 PM
luagha said...: I'll bet union rules forbid firing the train conductor who let the train go round the bend at 100 mph.; 5/13/15, 4:16 PM
Scott said...: Well, assuming that the report that the train was doing 100 MPH (which is 30 over the speed limit for the prior straight and double the speed on the curve where it derailed), chalk this one up to human error. I suppose that in theory you could come up with a set of circumstances for mechanical failure to cause an overspeed (throttle stuck full on and all your brakes failing at once, say), but that's into lottery ticket winner odds for happening.

That said, they should hang charges on the conductor and anyone who potentially covered for any past safety violations by this moron. Safety regs are written on blood for reasons like these!; 5/13/15, 4:49 PM
jr565 said...: SO, the dems immediately start politicizing this and make it about the need for increased infrastructure spending.
Even though this was an accident that occurred specifically because the train was speeding around a turn 50MPH above the speed limit.
Complete ghouls.
On top of the fact that we spent a ton of money on infrastructure from Obama's stimulus with nothing to show for it.All those shovel ready jobs that didnt' even exist.
Can they not engage in politics for five minutes? Is that possible?; 5/13/15, 5:03 PM
The Godfather said...: When I lived in DC, I took Amtrak to NYC a lot -- my first wife was afraid of flying, and I will avoid driving into/out of Manhattan if possible. So I take this personally. As a wise man once said, "It could have been worse; it could have been me."

If the reports are correct that the train was going 100+ mph in that 50 mph curve, the operator ought to be tried for homicide. That's worse than the captain who ran the Italian cruise ship aground; 5/13/15, 9:23 PM