(This post is from our new blog: Unofficial Sources.)
Positive Train Control, a technology system used to monitor trains and automatically keep them from reaching unsafe speeds, would likely have prevented the tragic Amtrak derailment earlier this week and many other train crashes in recent years, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and train safety experts.
But ever since Congress passed a law in 2008 requiring train companies to implement PTC by the end of 2015, the railroad industry has mounted a ferocious lobbying campaign to delay the rule.
Amtrak, like many other railroads, has been slow to comply*. The federal government has been accommodating. And most recently, senators have been fighting primarily over how long an extension should be granted.
Train companies did not want to invest the needed funds to upgrade their systems. But they may have been feeling direct pressure from Wall Street, as well.
In one revealing exchange during an investor call in 2009, Jason Seidl, then a financial analyst with the Dahlman Rose & Co. investment bank, asked Wick Moorman, the chief executive of Norfolk Southern Corp., what “you guys can do in terms of lobbying” on the PTC. And given the costs of complying with the PTC rule, the analyst wanted to know how future investments might be impacted.
Moorman said he and other rail executives were busy working to “educate members of Congress as to what the implications of this legislation are.” Seidl encouraged Moorman to “further educate” them.
Lobbying and other government records show the rail industry extensively sought to influence the Federal Railroad Administration and Congress on the PTC rules. Individual rail companies, including Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, CSX, Canada National Railway Company, among others, hired a small army of lobbyists.
But the largest and most prominent lobbying group to work to delay and weaken the PTC rule was the American Association of Railroads, which employed a veritable who’s who of D.C. consultants and lobbyists, including:
— Linda Daschle, the wife of former Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle, was paid to lobby on the PTC on behalf of the Association of American Railroads.
— The bipartisan lobbying duo of Max Sandlin and Vin Weber, both former congressmen, are registered with the American Association of Railroads to lobby on the PTC. Weber, an advisor to Jeb Bush, is also on the board of the American Action Network, a GOP dark money group that spends millions on election campaigns.
— Another bipartisan lobbying team, including former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., and former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is registered to lobby on behalf of the American Association of Railroads on PTC.
— The tax returns for the American Association of Railroads lists SKDKnickerbocker as a consultant for public relations and advertising throughout 2011 and 2012. SKDK is a public affairs firm led by senior Democratic staffers including former White House communications director Anita Dunn and CNN contributor Hilary Rosen. SKDK did not return a call requesting information about what services the firm provided for AAR, or if they continue to count AAR as a client.
— Former National Transportation Safety Board Kathryn Higgins was registered on behalf of AAR to lobby on the PTC.
— Former Rep. William Lipinski, D-Ill., was registered on behalf of the AAR to lobby on PTC. Lipinski’s son Dan is now a member of Congress who serves on the House Transportation Committee.
Engineers have complained about the influence of the train industry over rail safety issues.
“The industry is now resisting, watering down and lobbying against implementing PTC technology that could alert the engineer earlier to take action or bring a train to a stop before passing a red signal or exceeding his authority, and most importantly, before a collision. Rejecting PTC would close our eyes,” said Stephen Bruno, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen before an NTSB hearing in 2013.
As journalist David Sirota reported, in March of this year, the Senate committee that oversees rail issues “approved a bipartisan bill to delay by an additional five years the requirement for the new [PTC] technology. Among the sections of the system that were then still without the safety gear: the tracks stretching between New York City and Washington.”
The bill to delay the PTC was sponsored by Senators John Thune, Claire McCaskill, Bill Nelson, Ron Johnson, Jim Inhofe, Deb Fischer, Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski, Jerry Moran, Dean Heller, Marco Rubio, Kelly Ayotte and Rob Portman.
Update: Rod Gibbons, Amtrak’s vice president of corporate communications, contacted us to note that Amtrak is committed to meeting the PTC deadline of December 31, 2015 and is not individually lobbying against the PTC mandate. Gibbons said Amtrak has installed PTC on 206 of the 401 miles of the Northeast Corridor track. Asked about the American Association of Railroads, the lobbying group opposed to the PTC deadline which counts Amtrak as a member, Gibbons said, “AAR can speak to their position.”
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Well, all these lobbyists are murderers now.
I imagine this tragedy would have weighed heavily on these lobbyists if only they had any conscience to begin with. Good to see the irrefutable proof of what has already been plain enought that the Democrats have adapted to the modern ethic to become corporate whores too – the Commander in Chief not least among them. Anyway, what good’s conscience and a commitment to public service, when it’s more profitable to work against the public interest, even at the cost of injury or death to others?
2005 – Japan Railway disaster:
Brakeless is a cautionary tale (a lesson obviously missed by the powers that be in the Railway industry in the US: CEO’s, Congress, Lobby groups etc.) of what happens when punctuality, protocol, and efficiency are taken to the extreme.
… a failure to prepare for let alone admit the possibility of human error, and the lack of investment in the safety equipment and training needed to prevent or at least lessen the chance of such accidents occurring in the future.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/brakeless/
I also recommend Train Wreck: The Forensics of Rail Disasters, by George Bibel. It’s not disaster stories but rather a look at the dynamics, often the engineering or physics, of rail accidents: signaling, track flaws, axle and journal-box failure (the cause of the 1943 crash at this location, BTW), carriage design, driver error. Published in 2012; it does talk about the Metrolink Chatsworth, CA crash and the need for PTC.
Amtrak IS the federal government and should have had PTC implemented FIRST. instead they waste and lose money on unprofitable routes and on stupid hats so nutjob foamers like Brandon Bostian can look “cool.
It’s almost unbelievable how delusional you must be to spin this tragedy to further your anti-Wall Street narrative. The reason for the crash is still not yet known and you’re blaming…Wall Street? What a farce, you should be embarrassed for publishing this poor excuse for journalism.
There’s no reason why the train should have been going 106mph. PTC would have stopped the train and Wall Street stopped PTC.
Capitalism kills.
It has been widely reported on numerous news outlets that the lack of Positive Train Control almost certainly factored into the cause of this derailment. Even if it turns out not to be a factor, which is quite unlikely that it was not a factor, the lobbying against PTC is a well documented problem. But Nate’s all upset because “Anti Wall Street!” is so mean and “unbelievable” and “delusional.”
Thank your for quoting some of my comment back to me. I wrote it so I’m aware of what I said. Back to actual substance of the argument:
Your use of the phrases “almost certainly” and “quite unlikely” add to my point that we still don’t yet know why the train derailed. “Numerous news outlets” are also “widely reporting” that something may have struck the train that could have caused the crash. If that is the case (and I say if because, unlike Mr. Fang I’m waiting for the investigation to actually be concluded before I start pointing fingers) it’s unclear, to say the least, whether Positive Train Control would have made a difference. The larger point I was making was that to insinuate that fault of this tragedy somehow lies with Wall Street is simply, yes, delusional and I believe Mr. Fang is using this horrific accident to continue to push an anti-Wall Street narrative that in this case is not only premature but also grossly out of context.
Yeah, there is no reason to jump on an “anti wall street” bandwagon. Hell no. Good point Nate. You’re so astute and careful rather than “delusional” and farcical and embarrassing. Yeah, that was sarcasm. My true thoughts are that you’re a pearl clutching phony. But you knew that.
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To the layout editor:
Could you please organize all your articles into geographical or topic-related groups? Right now they are all presented in a mixed fashion, which is irritating.
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Clearly these people have not been “leaning in”…Wake up to reality, guys!
Jeff Barge
With both Marco Rubio(R) and Bill Nelson(D) from Florida supporting the bill to delay PTC, it just goes to show that Florida has achieved bi-partisanship at last. Apparently when there’s money to be made they can agree on something.
This from AP:
Half done job kills 7, critically injures 8 more. Who expects more from half-assed congressmen? Last year they voted to give Israel an extra $225 million for their rocket shield.
It’s quite apparent Israeli lives come first when it comes to our congress and the purse.
Since we have become a nation effectively run by corporations, this kind of greedy behavior has become the norm. The safety of individuals and the preserving of the environment will always be less important than making money for corporations. The refusal to install the equipment that would prevented train crashes like the recent one is only one example. The food industry does everything it can to weaken the inspection of food and the process of issuing recalls on tainted food. The automobile industry let cars run with defective ignition switches, leading to dozens of deaths. Wyoming just passed a law making it illegal to gather data on open areas in the state, trying to conceal the fact that many of their waterways are infected with ecoli bacteria. If you take a picture and show it to federal or state government, you can go to jail for a year. Of course, the fossil fuel industry runs amok spewing global warming greenhouse gases, and if any area tries to stop it, the Republican state legislatures deny cities and towns the constitutional right to protect the health of their citizens. This is what America has become. And if anybody thinks that the amount of money and jobs tied up in the defense industry has nothing to do with our culture of endless war, you’re kidding yourself.
There’s also this aspect.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/242282-fbi-probing-possibility-that-crashed-train-was-shot-at
Ah, but highly doubtful that would have caused a sudden surge in speed of the train at the time it was approaching the curve, reminiscent of eyewitnesses to the Michael Hastings accident [former Rolling Stone journalist working on a CIA/NSA story, who drove a Benz with their Mbrace computer system onboard, made by Bosch of Germany, with Freescale Semiconductor microchips).
But, someone who initiated a preset command, perhaps, or had external access to the ARINC system, could cause that surge.
If the engineer is accelerating out of a station, and is distracted or injured, it might happen. He doesn’t remember much, but the locomotive shows windshield damage and crazing that might have distorted the visibility out, and thus judge the speed. It seems to be a fairly common hazard on certain stretches, and a SEPTA train did report a hit just before the Amtrak crash.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/15/amtrak-train-may-have-been-struck-by-object-before-derailment
The locomotive seems relatively intact, so its controls and mechanical condition should be discernable.
PTC= Positive Train Control, ——so what we need is some PCC=Positive Congress Control.
Congress should ride the rails for their work to travel back and forth between NYC and D. C.
3 /1/2 hours is the time for the trip, but you, Congress could use it as work time. In fact, all federal employees traveling to NYC from D. C. should use the train for that destination if they are not doing it now.
It’s 5 1/2 hours by car ( oh yeah, a limo, i suppose) So, save money, and work at your nice comfortable train seat or ( do they have a bar car here— so that way some of the hyper people who are afraid to ride the rails could really relax?
Besides, Congress, you need to ride the rails for DIRECT EXPERIENCE of our infrastructure, so that you know how to vote in real time and with real experienc for real ssafety for the public. You are a memeber of this group too, Congress.
This would save time, let you work as you travel and Penn station in NYC to Union station in D.C. is close enough to major destinations, although ‘m sure that Goldeman Sachs et al would provide you with a car if you forgot how to walk from the station.
So, let’s demand a look at the expenses of Congress, because after all Congress, if you keep serving up AUSTERITY to the masses, you Congress need to lead by example. Be more AUSTERE yourselves.
You see, we would save money, and have real time studies and personal experience of the rails, Then Congress, if you don’t fix the rails, then I guess—–maybe you could die in a train crash too. i think People would feel that we had some real national securoty with trains too.That, and safety, Congress, should be inspiration enough for you to act!.
There you go…Austerity is the name of game.
Pushing that crap all over the planet in western nations that have succumbed to the economic domination of the International Central Banking Cartel (US Federal Reserve, IMF, World Bank, BIS).
The United States needs to follow the example of Iceland. Create a Pirate Party, lock up the financial criminals, and get about the business of restoration.
The Constitution of the United States is quite explicit regarding who the leaders are in this nation and it is not the puppet politicians occupying high offices in all three branches of the US Federal Government; nor is it a private international cartel of money voodoo masters.
The preamble of the Constitution:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
We can’t even gaet past that first one, establish justice.
Once again the incestuous relationship between wall street , congress and industry places profits above the public good
I believe this was a tragic accident. Yeah, the lobbyists worked hard for their clients but there were many decisions made over a long period of time that are linked to this tragedy. For example, why was an Amtrak train allowed to go that fast in the first place, why was that turn not re-engineered to be longer, who owns the land next to the tracks, did they want more money than was offered? I don’t know why but I don’t think this is a smoking gun type of situation? I’m probably wrong?
If PTC had already been implemented the train wouldn’t have been able to go that fast. That’s kinda the point.
Tragic, yes, but an accident? Maybe . . .
Certainly, the horrible derailed incident is now the news for the next few days, when even more important to the vast majority should be the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the overall citizenry should be against, while the banking cartel is promoting it.
Suppose, for the moment, it was either a malfuction or hacking situation. The obvious next question would be who designs and implemented the onboard systems used on this train?
ARINC. At the time of the conract and implementation, who owned ARINC?
Why, that private bankster, the Carlyle Group. Just as the ARINC network controller and databus connected the ACARS system (also an ARINC product) and the satellite downlink, and the black boxes and transponders aboard that missing Malaysian Airlines MH370, so too is a slimmed-down AIM system also involved with the crashed train!
And that Postive Train Control technology, ostensibly yet to be activated, but I believe already installed? Also, ARINC.
Funny how those things always work out that way, huh?
Congress voted to decrease Amtrak funding the day after this current smash-up occured – I’m not sure where that fits here but I think it’s an important bit of information. Our transportation infrastructure is a disgrace and basic safety for trains which is standard in most other industrial countries is totally lacking here. Just sayin…
Well, this explains why the GOP talking point spread so quickly in Congress and elsewhere: it was operator error, we don’t need more infrastructure funding. The fix was already in.
Incidentally, Positive Train Control was talked-about for years, certainly since the 2008 Metrolink crash in the LA area.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/14/amtrak-promises-automatic-braking-crash
What’s unforgivable is people like Mayor Nutter professing no knowledge of it (he also blamed the engineer). Philadelphia not only has the Amtrak main line from DC to NYC but also has SEPTA as a regional commuter rail system. Where have they been all these years?
(One clarification: in the US the private companies own most of the tracks, including much of what Amtrak and regional transit districts run on. However, the DC-NYC Amtrak line is theirs exclusively, the old Pennsylvania RR electric main line, so installing PTC was Congress’ sole responsibility and should not have concerned the likes of Norfolk Southern.)
I see Lisa Murkowski’s name on the list of Senators delaying PTC. I’m curious as to why, as the Alaska RR has had PTC since the 1990s and according to this video, seemed quite pleased with themselves over it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MHfCTGTLFM
Fun fact: the Alaska RR started as a US gov’t operation and now is operated by the State of Alaska.
U.S. rail is not in the same galaxy as european rail passenger service. Maybe not the same universe. … certainly not in the same ballpark.
*I’ve always wondered about that coram?
**back in the day, you could buy a ‘euro-rail’ pass for little or nothing and travel all over europe for months on end and never need a vehicle! #connected …
U.S./Cdn freight railroads may be the best around, at least according to The Economist, given their consolidation into five major lines and economies of scale like unit trains and centralized dispatch centers.
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21576136-quiet-success-americas-freight-railways-back-track
However, you’re right, U.S. passenger service is primitive. A few metro areas have transit districts, but none seem to be over 80 mph (128 kph), if that. The only “high-speed” (relatively speaking) line is DC-NYC-Boston, Acela (Amtrak) at 135 mph/217 kph, and that only on some stretches. That’s nothing compared to what runs in UK, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and China, and China and Japan now have maglev trains as well. As for US intercity service, Amtrak runs on the railroad companies’ tracks and runs slow and very late — it’s more of a cruise, its only advantage being they don’t treat passengers like cattle like airlines do.
US has fallen a long way from the days of the Super Chief and the California Zephyr.
“As for US intercity service, Amtrak runs on the railroad companies’ tracks and runs slow and very late”
Hey Benito, can you to fix this, once again …
The Chinese do try to run them on time — or, at least, take heads if it embarrasses the central government. They had a high-speed rail crash in Wenzhou in 2011, official neglect and corruption was involved, sort of like here. Except, this time the railway minister, Liu Zhijun, was sacked and drew a death sentence.
“Operator error” is the same excuse offered by the NRA.
Trains don’t kill people…
Israeli lives matter more than American lives. Congress gives hundreds of millions in extra money to spare Israelis but it can only fund a portion of our transportation safety needs.
Another great job, Lee. Keep naming names.
It is getting clearer every day that we must dismantle the Military, Survelliance, Industrial complex
Thank you, Lee. More evidence that it’s all about the profits, not about the product. And more evidence that the fox is guarding the henhouse in Washington.
Love those interesting names in the final paragraph. Where have I seen those before? And I wonder if we need a law about insider lobbying. Should “Former National Transportation Safety Board Kathryn Higgins” be allowed to earn money by manipulating Washington? Shouldn’t she be volunteering her expertise? Average citizens are asked to do volunteer work. Lawyers are supposed to (and often do) provide 10% of their services for free. And “Former Rep. William Lipinski, D-Ill,” can’t he just discuss it over supper with his son? He wants to be paid to give his son advice about how to vote?
All of this happens in the name of “maximizing shareholder value”. Time was when companies accepted the notions that their success was tied to having happy employees and satisfied customers, and when they were required by law to serve the communities to which they belonged. No longer. Thanks to their own lobbying campaigns, corporate charter laws have been changed in all but one state to state that the sole purpose of a corporation is to make a profit. Fuck the community, fuck the employees, and fuck the customers. It goes without saying that the leading cheerleaders for this are on Wall Street, where share prices are not evenly remotely tied to anything concrete, but rather to the preachings of the analyst shills and the irrational moods of the public.
“It goes without saying that the leading cheerleaders for this are on Wall Street”
But of course that is the economic control mechanism of the puppet politicians in all three branches of the US Federal Government. The problem is that it goes without saying so. The American people would do well to educate themselves regarding the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the subsequent Amendment XVI to the US Constitution. These are the tools of the complete economic enslavement of the American People and the NY Branch of the Federal Reserve (Wall Street) dictates policy (see CFR) to the U.S. Federal Government. The International Central Banking Cartel is holding Western national governments hostage (see IMF, World Bank, and BIS) and that fact is continually glossed over as though it is insignificant in the total picture of the iniquity that they are wrecking internationally through their gross dictatorship which has resulted in incremental destruction of both humanity and planet Earth
“maximizing shareholder value”
Ever work for a poor person? is the conservative’s mantra.
Perhaps we could require Congress to use public transit; doesn’t mean they’d fund it but at least they’d stand the chance of death on our rails. They could even claim how courageous they’d be for risking their lives and give themselves an award or something …
In my view congressional representatives dutifully serving their central banking masters and the masters themselves would better serve We the People on zero-pay prison chain gangs building PTC tracks—coast to coast (all rural areas included) with extended 100 year plans and funds from the seized assets of the largest private (too big to fail) central banks.
No more free rides. No get-out-of-jail free cards.
What do you want more regulations for Lee? You want to save lives? What’s wrong with you?
I am curious how much money the consortium has “saved” by delaying this installation, just so we can put a congressional “cost” to those dead people.
Simple enough to find out how much profit is involved. Just check the annual reports of the five major US rail carriers: BNSF, Union Pacific, Canadian National, CSX, and Norfolk Southern. Incidentally, the safety issue isn’t just over passenger trains, and it’s worth remembering the next time a train of Bakken crude or toxic chemicals goes off the tracks.
Compared to government-operated Amtrak which loses money hand over fist? Better blame those evil corporations that manage to make money in spite of the government, though. Right? How many miles of track does Amtrak own? And why arent the Democraps shutring it down until that supposed miracle safety system PTC is installed.
Yep. Bipartisan greed and sociopathy. I do wonder if this tragedy will change the equation in the slightest.
Exactly.
Something that would save lives and improve the nation is to be thwarted by our congressional traitors yet they have no problem advancing the efforts of the military-industrial complex.
“House passes Pentagon spending bill
http://rt.com/usa/259001-ndaa-pentagon-house-passes/
Thieves and liers! Shame on them.