Is Train Travel in America Safe?Top of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 709, Segment 1
Dec 22, 2017 • 17m
Guest: Richard Beall, Railroad Operations and Safety Consultant
The Amtrak derailment near Olympia, Washington on Monday killed three passengers and injured dozens of others. The train jumped the tracks when it hit a curve going 80 miles per hour where the speed limit was 30 mph. Investigators are still trying to find out why.
And there’s the larger question of why do these kinds of accidents continue to happen? A similar derailment in Philadelphia in 2015 killed eight passengers and hospitalized 185 more. A handful of other collisions and derailments around the country have caused injury and death.