IT WAS the deadliest US train crash in 20 years. But it could have been prevented had override systems been rolled out across the country as planned.
Eight people died and 200 were injured when an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia last week. It took a bend at 160 kilometres per hour, twice the speed limit.
On Monday, investigators were examining a grapefruit-sized fracture on the train鈥檚 windshield but could not be sure when it happened.
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Technology to prevent this kind of disaster already exists. Positive Train Control overrides the driver to keep trains below the speed limit. The US Congress has mandated that PTC be installed across the country but it isn鈥檛 operational yet.
David Thurston of engineering firm Atkins says that re-engineering the network for PTC has proved a major challenge. 鈥淚t鈥檚 essentially re-signalling the entire country.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淭rain disaster was preventable鈥�