RSSFatal Amtrak Train Derailment in Port Richmond at Frankford Junction … 6 People Reported Dead
Train 188 from Washington to New York with 238 passengers and five crew members aboard derailed …
Six people have now been declared dead and over 146 injured following the Amtrak train derailment in Port Richmond. Of the 238 passengers on board the train, 6 have died, 8 passengers remain in critical condition at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia and many other passengers were injured suffering fractures ti limbs. The accident happened at about 9:28 PM, with six cars overturning and the engine separating from the rest of the train. It is unknown what called the derailment; however, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is launching a full team to investigate.
At least six people were killed and dozens injured, eight critically, when a northbound Amtrak train derailed Tuesday night in Port Richmond.
In the moments after the derailment, scores of emergency personnel swarmed over more than a half-dozen toppled train cars, trying to reach the dazed, the injured, the dying.
Some people were reported trapped in the train, and crews cut into the cars to try to free the injured.
At a briefing early Wednesday morning, with Gov. Wolf at his side, Mayor Nutter reported that five people had died and that 65 people were taken to area hospitals, 54 of them to Temple University Hospital.
Herbert Cushing, chief medical officer at Temple, reported later that a sixth person, who had suffered a massive chest injury, had died. Eight other patients were in critical condition.
Train 188, bound to New York from Washington with 238 passengers and five crew members aboard, had left 30th Street Station minutes before the accident, which occurred near a curve at Wheatsheaf Lane and I-95.
Amtrak has suspended travel between Philadelphia and New York. Individuals with questions about their friends and family on train 188 should call Amtrak’s Incident Hotline at 800-523-9101.
UPDATE I: ‘Absolute disastrous mess’: 6 dead, 146 injured after Amtrak train derails.
“It is an absolute, disastrous mess,” Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said of the crash site. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 was traveling from Washington to New York when it derailed in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The impact tore cars apart, sending seven of them flying from the tracks, and left the engine a mangled mess.
“We have confirmed an engine and all seven cars derailed,” a U.S. Department of Transportation representative told CNN on Wednesday, adding that the engine and two cars were left standing upright, three cars were tipped on their sides, and one was nearly flipped over on its roof. The seventh one is “leaning hard,” they said.
RAW VIDEO from aboard the New York-Bound Amtrak Train Derails Near Philadelphia
UPDATE II: Amtrak cancels Baltimore, Northeast Corridor trains after derailment.
Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service between New York and Philadelphia is suspended after a deadly derailment Tuesday night just north of Philadelphia.
Amtrak trains 151 and 181 are canceled Wednesday, and passengers in Baltimore are advised to use MARC trains 517 and 523, Maryland Transit Administration officials said. All MARC Penn Line service will run as scheduled.
Amtrak will run on a modified schedule between Washington and Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston.
UPDATE III: Official Amtrak Blog – Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 at North Philadelphia
We are deeply saddened by the loss of life from Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 that derailed north of Philadelphia Tuesday evening. We ask the news media to be respectful of our customers, our employees, and their families.
There were approximately 238 passengers and 5 crew members on board. Individuals with questions about their friends and family on this train should call the Amtrak Incident Hotline 800-523-9101. Amtrak has also established a Family Assistance Center to work closely with family and friends of individuals on the train. Local emergency responders are on the scene and an investigation is ongoing.
Patrick J. Murphy PA @PatrickMurphyPA
Posted May 13, 2015 by Scared Monkeys Deceased, Injury - Surgery, Travel, You Tube - VIDEO | 5 comments |
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5 Responses to “Fatal Amtrak Train Derailment in Port Richmond at Frankford Junction … 6 People Reported Dead”
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The train left the track somewhere near the apex of the curve. Reporters were speculating that the speed of the train was fifty to fifty-five miles per hour.
The curve is almost 90 degrees and the exit to straight track is adjacent to a freight rail yard.
This system has been in place since the 1940′s. Maintenance is key to keeping tracks sized and properly secured to the ties that support them.
The NTSB has people on the scene and have recovered the black box or event data recorder. This should tell the experts train speed and other vital information.
IMO the speed of trains into that curve should be limited to 35 MPH because of the degree of turn and the nearness to the freight rail yard.
MY gut feeling was that a rail spike or more were loose allowing the rail to move outward dropping the engine wheel trucks and those on the following cars off the West rail. After that speed played a part and the cars followed the engine until it became disconnected.
What was the engineer thinking. Did he have a death wish?
++++++
The Latest on Amtrak crash: Engineer hit emergency brakes
May. 13, 2015
Philadelphia police officials say the engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed, killing seven people and injuring more than 200, declined to provide a statement to investigators.
They say the engineer also had an attorney when he left a meeting with investigators. The engineer has not yet been identified.
THE SPEED LIMIT JUST BEFORE THE CURVE WAS 70 MPH AND ON THE CURVE IT WAS 50 MPH.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ebc621a9cd1b4abd9f2bf2b50fa12d05/latest-amtrak-crash-ntsb-crew-heads-derailment
Amtrak Crash: Train Hit Curve Going Over 100 MPH
May 13, 2015
An Amtrak train involved in a fatal crash here appears to have been traveling at more than 100 miles an hour, twice the speed limit, as it entered a sharp curve where it derailed Tuesday night, federal officials said Wednesday.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/deadly-train-wreck-in-philadelphia-leaves-disastrous-mess-1431499608
Trying to make up a ten minute loss of schedule on tracks inside a city is pure insanity. If this is the typical behavior of people at Amtrack, there needs to be some changes in operational management beginning at the top and down to retraining on-train personnel after removing some who shouldn’t be working.
At the speed of the train in the curve, the wheel flanges had enough pressure on them to simply climb up to the top of the rail and send the train almost into the freight yard.
[...] to the National Transportation Safety Board, the train that crashed in Philadelphia resulting in 7 dead, 200 injured and some still missing was going 106 mph as it approached the [...]
It is unreal to believe that an individual who had been doing this job that long thought he could take a curve at 100 mph when it was supposed to be 50.
Was he drunk or on drugs?
The train engineer has already retained a lawyer. Go figure.
R