When a railroad almost built a PTC system

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Steven Ditmeyer, on the April 3, 2016 Amtrak wreck in Chester, PA:

Amtrak Crash Probe Indicates Basic Safety Measure Wasn't Deployed

Crews apparently didn’t use shunting device, seemingly violating railroad’s rules

Emergency crews investigated the Amtrak crash in Chester, Pa., on Sunday. Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images

By Andrew Tangel, Scott Calvert and Ted Mann
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April 5, 2016 3:44 p.m. ET

An investigation into this week’s Amtrak crash in Chester, Pa., indicates track workers didn’t deploy a basic, decades-old safety measure that experts say could have prevented a collision that killed two workers and injured more than 30 passengers, people familiar with the matter said.

Crews performing work on a stretch of Amtrak’s heavily traveled Northeast Corridor on Sunday apparently didn’t put in place what is known as a supplemental shunting device, in apparent violation of Amtrak’s own worker-protection rules, these people said. The device, which is clamped to the track, completes an electrical circuit to alert the signaling system that the track is occupied.

Had a shunt been used, Amtrak’s computerized collision-avoidance system known as positive train control, or PTC, could have prevented the accident, said Steven Ditmeyer, a former federal railroad official and Virginia-based consultant who has advised the U.S. government and transportation industry groups but not Amtrak.

“It would have triggered the signal system, which would have triggered PTC,” Mr. Ditmeyer said of the shunting device. “I can think of no reason that there would not be a shunt in place” when maintenance is under way.