There was an AMTRACK train crash that killed and hurt people.
It was 7 cars.
It was going 106 MPH!! IT needed to go 50 MPH to negotiate the curve of the track.
It was being controlled by a automated voice command. The engine had to manually apply the brakes but it was not in time.

And they want to make cars that drive themselves???

Anybody want to take any bets that they find out that the engineer was on his phone or laptop???

That train peaks at 150 mph. With the shared rail setup, it gets delayed and slowed so much, it takes longer to go from DC to Boston now than it did on a metroliner in 1969. It's not the best system in the world, and rural Connecticut is about the only place it gets over 100mph anymore because of congested rails. I have seen a recent documentary on the train, and it is not voice commanded, unless they introduced that in the last year. It has an RVDT system for the brakes and the throttle, just like most of our newer jets. That is a Rotary Variable Displacement Transmitter. It's a rheostat, but a highly sensitive one. No big carbon wiper and half mile of copper wire. It is loud enough in the cab of the train at speed that the operator wears a noise attenuating headset, so it does not lend itself well to voice control, and voice recognition technology can't even dial my damn cell phone accurately, so I'd be VERY surprised if there is any truth to that. The lower run from New York on down has had a speed limit of 80MPH for ages, dating back to the GG-1s. The engine they use is more than capable of making time, used elsewhere in the world in the 150-180 mph range. The truth will come out, and the NTSB will tell you what it is after they dissect the CVDR. Most trains use the same type of recorder we have in newer aircraft, the FA2100, which can record 72 lines of data and voice for 8 hours endurance. They catch EVERYTHING.

jd750ace wrote:
That train peaks at 150 mph. With the shared rail setup, it gets delayed and slowed so much, it takes longer to go from DC to Boston now than it did on a metroliner in 1969. It's not the best system in the world, and rural Connecticut is about the only place it gets over 100mph anymore because of congested rails. I have seen a recent documentary on the train, and it is not voice commanded, unless they introduced that in the last year. It has an RVDT system for the brakes and the throttle, just like most of our newer jets. That is a Rotary Variable Displacement Transmitter. It's a rheostat, but a highly sensitive one. No big carbon wiper and half mile of copper wire. It is loud enough in the cab of the train at speed that the operator wears a noise attenuating headset, so it does not lend itself well to voice control, and voice recognition technology can't even dial my damn cell phone accurately, so I'd be VERY surprised if there is any truth to that. The lower run from New York on down has had a speed limit of 80MPH for ages, dating back to the GG-1s. The engine they use is more than capable of making time, used elsewhere in the world in the 150-180 mph range. The truth will come out, and the NTSB will tell you what it is after they dissect the CVDR. Most trains use the same one we have in newer aircraft, the FA2100, which can record 72 lines of data and voice for 8 hours endurance. They catch EVERYTHING.


the important stuff must be in that round top-hat looking thing. that can of red bull doesn't stand a chance.

The can of Red Bull is the ULB (underwater locator beacon) the "pinger" (which actually just ticks) that they look for in the ocean. It is actuated when the dots on both ends reach equal potential with the rest of the case. You are right, the round part is where the data is stored. The rest of it is perishable, and is the actual recording device, user interface (that's behind the thumbscrews under the round can. This is where I plug in my magic machine and hear what was going on in the cockpit. I have the conversion program for the voice data, but only the manufacturer, overhaul facilities, and the FAA/NTSB can read the flight data streams.

And the "Do Not Open" is to make sure you don't let the smoke out. All joking aside that was a tragic wreck envolving very old trains.

What a sad situation. Being an Engineer has to be incredibly boring at times. Even when driving a truck I've heard drivers talk about not remembering the last 100 miles or so, even going through big cities. And they had to steer that rig.

Even a dead man's switch might not help with someone that is so used to it they can trigger it unconsciously. It'll be interesting to find out what happened. Isn't there still a brakeman in the cab also?

One of my grandfathers had been an engineer for MoPac and my Mom used to tell us that riding in a car he was driving was 'interesting'. Used to the rails steering his locomotive, Grandpa would spot a farmer he knew working in a roadside field, take his hands off the steering wheel and point at the farmer while making a comment about him or what he was doing.