BNSF - I-5 Overpass (NB)

There's presently an inquiry going on into whether the driver was distracted due to there being a trainee in the cabin.

Let us also keep in mind that this track is brand new, which eliminates the infrastructure spending reasoning right there...this track was placed in the exact same spot that the old track was...they pulled up the rails and ties and laid new ones in the same exact place; they did not change the alignment at all. The curve that the derailment occurred on was just fine...for freight trains traveling at 30 mph or less, not for a train moving at 80 mph—not to speak of the fact that this curve has a posted 30-mph speed limit. Basically, the operator of the train ignored the speed limit, and that’s what caused the wreck.

I would like to point out that the bridge being in poor condition or a broken rail was probably not the reason it happened. The accident was more than likely due to speed and engineer error. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amtrak-derailment-train...

Actually, Anonymous makes a good point here. I cannot lay the fault for this tragedy at the feet of any president or politician. In fact, I think it would be loathsome of us to try and use an accident like this for political points.

What would be exceptionally beneficial to America is to reconsider how we fund transportation. It is very difficult for state and local jurisdictions to get Federal funding for repair work. By contrast, it is much easier to get Federal funding for complete replacements.

Given the current financial triage for Federal funding, why would any jurisdiction want to spend money maintaining their bridges when they can simply let the bridge to deteriorate until replacement is necessary?

Under our current funding system, there is simply no incentive to conduct preventative maintenance on bridges.

Granted, this discussion may be completely irrelevant to what happened here in Tacoma. Hopefully, we can learn our lessons from the Tacoma accident and ensure that it never happens again.

THE Prez? Just about every prez since Eisenhower has assured us that he will improve our infrastructure. Two presidents made good on the promise though.

1. Eisenhower with his interstate system.

2. Obama with his stimulus package that resulted in the Demolition and replacement of the Tuscumbia Bridge in Missouri.

Time for the Prez to make good his campaign promise about infrastructure spending.

A train derailed on the SB overpass today. Still being investigated. Sadly, 6 have been reported dead, and a further 77 injured. http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/18/us/amtrak-derailment-washi...