San Antonio has always suffered from a large number of train accidents. Recent accidents in San Antonio have resulted in death and injury as well as the evacuation of large areas because of the hazardous cargo.
A recent train crash in California highlights how dangerous trains can be if not operated correctly. The investigation in the deadly train collision that killed 25 people in California and injured many more continues to get more complicated, with new facts coming to contradict findings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
In the California train accident, it’s hard to establish who was responsible for the accident or what can be done to prevent future train accidents. Some contend it was a human error, others believe the lack of an adequate technology to stop human errors from causing such accidents is to blame and some even point to the long hours in isolation suffered by the engineers.
The technology, which could stop trains from missing a red light, is relatively expensive, and railroad companies have not wanted to adopt its use. Safety regulators have also temporarily banned the use of cell phones by train operators during shift hours. And some train operators require two engineers.
Three witnesses said they saw the commuter train had a green light just before the collision with the freight train. This contradicts what the National Transportation Safety Board concluded, whose investigation revealed that the commuter train missed a red light.
The investigation by the National Transportation Board initially revealed that the commuter train engineer was sending text messages from his cell phone immediately before the impact. According to investigators, he exchanged text messages with teenage railroad enthusiasts; this is believed to have distracted the engineer.
Investigators in the train accident believe the accident was preventable, and all the drastic measures being taken now are just another sign that it takes a tragedy for the necessary safety measures to be taken.
