How technology Is aiding Crash research

quite a number technology, from 3D laser scans of teach automobiles to video and facts recordings, is aiding an investigation into the motive of a devastating Amtrak teach derailment that occurred in Philadelphia in advance this week.

The national Transportation safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the twist of fate, which killed 8 human beings and injured more than 200 others, according to information reviews.

An preliminary research shows pace may additionally were a factor inside the teach's crash. The most velocity on the curve where the educate derailed is 50 mph (eighty km/h). The NTSB was able to use video from the train's track-photo recorder to reconstruct a timeline of the train's pace. [How Safe Is Train Travel?]

Video/records recordings

At sixty five seconds earlier than the give up of the video, the educate's pace went above 70 mph (113 km/h). At 43 seconds before the video ends, the speed went above eighty mph (129 km/h); at 31 seconds earlier than, it reached 90 mph (a hundred forty five km/h), and at sixteen seconds before, the rate topped one hundred mph (161 km/h), the video confirmed. The teach engineer, Brandon Bostian, carried out the brakes just earlier than the teach entered a curve. a few seconds into the flip, the educate seemed to tilt 10 stages to the right, then the recording went clean, NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt stated in a news briefing the day past (may additionally 14).

it's now not clear whether or not Bostian accelerated the train's velocity, or whether the speed increased routinely, Sumwalt said. As part of his or her qualification, a educate engineer should learn the permanent pace restrictions alongside a selected course, despite the fact that there aren't any speed-restrict signs and symptoms alongside the song, except for brief speed restrictions, Sumwalt stated.

The educate's "black field" recorders have also been recovered, and the facts is being analyzed.

educate and tune inspections

The NTSB has been reviewing train and song inspections for any symptoms of defective feature. officials examined the train's pre-departure inspection, which incorporates a check of the teach's brakes, however no anomalies had been located, Sumwalt stated. The day earlier than the coincidence, a car inspected the situation of the music, called track geometry, and located no troubles.

The NTSB has carried out 3-D laser scans of the first  educate cars — the commercial enterprise elegance vehicle and the "quiet" car — which suffered the maximum damage inside the crash, Sumwalt said. He brought that the organisation has additionally tested most of the train signals alongside the course, except for the ones closest to the web page of the derailment, so that it will be examined these days. The agency has observed no abnormalities with the signals so far.

in the next week, after the song near the crash web site has been repaired, officials will conduct a so-called site distance test with a teach below similar lights and weather conditions, to determine how a ways far from the curve the teach became while the engineer ought to first see it, Sumwalt said.

Preventative tech

experts have pointed out that a technology for monitoring and controlling a train's movements, called advantageous train control (p.c), could have prevented Tuesday's deadly derailment. one of the tech's primary functions is to save you derailments due to speeding.

"i can optimistically say that an operational superb teach control system would have avoided this accident," Sumwalt told reporters.

In 1990, the NTSB indexed percent on its listing of "maximum desired" transportation protection improvements, as many accidents have been resulting from human mistakes. In 2008, Congress handed a regulation requiring the set up of % era in the course of most of the U.S. railroad network by December 15, 2015. despite the fact that the generation has been installed in an awful lot of the northeast hall, it was no longer established at the section of song in which the Philadelphia educate crashed, Sumwalt stated.

one of the oldest protection capabilities of trains is the so-known as "useless man's transfer," a manage (inclusive of a foot petal) that is activated automatically to forestall the automobile if the human operator loses manipulate, which includes in the occasion of loss of life or lack of awareness.

nowadays, maximum trains not have a lifeless guy's switch, however alternatively have some thing called an alerter, Sumwalt stated. If a train engineer has no longer adjusted the educate's controls for a sure amount of time, the alerter will sound an audio and visible message. If the engineer does not push a button to disable the message, the teach will routinely observe the penalty brake. regrettably, a few engineers have discovered to disregard those signals, Sumwalt said.