To me, besides the tragic nature of the AMTRAK crash...

[MrScorpio]

Last edited Thu May 14, 2015, 10:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Is the fact that a train in this country derailed because it was going 100 miles an hour. Compared to Japan, France and just about anywhere else where passenger trains don't derail when they're going 100 miles an hour, this pretty much spells out the myth of American Exceptionalism.

American Exceptionism basically gives this country the impetus to sit on its collective asses and forget about improving its own general condition. American Exceptionism gives us a failing infrastructure, crumbling airports, busted water mains, falling bridges, broken levees, an unreliable electrical grid and pot holes that you can lose your Buick in.

American Exceptionalism makes us think it necessary to spend billions of tax dollars propping up the weapons industry on white elephant aircraft that can't fly just because they might get wet.

American Exceptionalism makes people think that it's alright to defund our passenger rail after a train only going a 100 miles an hour jumped the track.

American Exceptionalism makes us think that it's OK to be stupid and regressive, that it's just fine to export our own industrial base, allow our cities to crumble into ruins and dismantle our public education system.

American Exceptional costs lives as well. Not just the lives lost after a passenger train going only 100 miles an hour jumped the tracks, but also in lives lost because we think it alright to commoditize human pain, illness and misery. To create prisons for profit and police forces that behave like occupying armies.

American Exceptionism is a roadmap to decline and even self-destruction. Because, why bother improving our banking system, reversing income inequality, abolishing all forms of discrimination, providing affordable housing, advancing renewable energy sources, promoting global peace over profit-driven war and building, maintaining and operating a modern passenger rail system where the trains can travel at 100 miles an hour without jumping the tracks?

We don't need to do any of that because we're "exceptional," right?

So, since when did we need an exception from improving our own general lot?

Edit: I understand the point that several folks have made here, that the train derailed because 100 miles an hour exceeded that portion of the track's capacity. There's no question here that train was going too fast. However, the rhetorical point that I was making was the fact that nothing had been done to prevent something that was wholly preventable. Whether it be fixing that portion of the track to accommodate a higher rate of speed, our installing some form of automated limiter to slow the train down in order to transverse that particular area safely.

But most of all, I wanted to tie those obvious remedies to the actual reaction of Congressional Republicans to DEFUND AMTRAK. This is the exact same mindset which prevents ourselves from improving our own lot in all of the other ways I've mentioned and more. This mindset is rooted in American Exceptionalism, which is merely resting on our own laurels.

Yes, the train went too fast for the track. But it didn't have to.

[steve2470]

1. I think the RW wants to make over this country into a replica of Detroit

Last edited Thu May 14, 2015, 10:41 PM - Edit history (1)

with all of us (except for the extremely wealthy) renting or working on the land, etc. Living in the company town kind of thing.

[MrScorpio]

5. As I've always said, my friend...

We here in Southeast Michigan are living in this country's canary in a coal mine.

And the Republican can't understand what the problem is for even a moment.

[steve2470]

7. here is what they want, I think

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Company#Company_town

After its completion, the company town attracted national attention. Many critics praised Pullman’s conception and planning of the company town. One newspaper article titled “The Arcadian City: Pullman, the Ideal City of the World” praised the company town as “the youngest and most perfect city in the world, Pullman; beautiful in every belonging.”[21] In February 1885, Richard T. Ely published his article “Pullman: A Social Study” in Harper’s Monthly. While the article praised the company town for creating an elevated environment for its workers, the article criticized the all-encompassing influence of the company. The article came to the conclusion that “Pullman is un-American” and “it is benevolent, well wishing feudalism.”[22]

During the Panic of 1893, Pullman closed his manufacturing plant in Detroit in order to move all manufacturing to the company town.[23] On May 11, 1894, the employees of the company town walked off the job and initiated the Pullman Strike. After the strike, the company town was not the same. The strike resulted in the loss of pride for the company town.[24]

In February, 1904, the Pullman Company was mandated to sell the company town by court order. Despite this, the Pullman Company did not sell the company town until 1907.[25] Today, Pullman is a Chicago neighborhood, and a historical landmark district on the state, National Historic Landmark and National Register of Historic Places lists.

[MrScorpio]

10. Neo-feudalism...

America's Republican Future.

[pansypoo53219]

19. future? minimum wage serf seems to me.

[KittyWampus]

40. honestly, I think the model is Soviet Union. One party rule by brute force.

Sham/stolen elections, sham journalism, population fighting for scraps.

[uppityperson]

2. It derailed because it was going 100 mph in a place meant to tolerate 50 mph speeds.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1246041980246

Amtrak operates a nationwide rail network, serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces on more than 21,300 miles of routes, with more than 20,000 employees. It is the nation's only high speed intercity passenger rail provider, operating at a top speed of 150 mph (241 kph). More than half of its trains operate at top speeds of 100 mph (160 kph) or greater.

[haele]

6. I suspect the train was getting up to the speed it would be at past the curve.

Either the engineer was tired and missed (or wasn't familiar with or forgot about) the 50mph curve at that spot, or there was an issue with the train's mechanisms and it started accelerating on its own.

Haele

[MrScorpio]

8. Another article posted here made the point...

That we knew that that portion of the track couldn't accommodate a higher rate of speed and yet, improvements were never made.

That curve was seen as too exceptional to do anything about.

[uppityperson]

11. I agree that Amtrak's rails are not good enough, was trying to note that the problem wasn't

because it was going 100 mph but because it was doing that in a place that was not suited for it.


That said, I don't know that area, anything about the curve. I've been on trains in Europe that have slowed for curves also, even the Fast Trains have to slow for some curves.

More money needs to be put into infrastructure like decent public transportation like rails.

[MrScorpio]

14. Although I used the train's speed as an example...

I'm sure that we both agree that there should have been some system in place to prevent the train from exceeding the capacity of the track.

Whether it be fixing the track itself, automatically limiting the train's speed in that area or otherwise, some preventive measure should have been in place.

I don't think we're too far apart here.

[B2G]

41. PTP has to be in place by year end

This safety feature has been approved, funded and is MANDATED to be done by the end of the year.

Unfortunately, this stretch just hasn't been done yet.

[swilton]

18. To say that Amtrak is 'high speed'

is being overly generous...

[enough]

3. What a great point.

I would also add our healthcare system, where it seems there are a great number of people who think America is great because we DO NOT provide healthcare to vast numbers of people, and other vast numbers of people are routinely bankrupted and robbed blind in order to pay for healthcare.

[Rolando]

30. Of course.

We never tire of talking about how wonderful medical care is in this country. Universal health care--without insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies dictating everything--is what we need. Doctors have shown Medicare that they're willing to work for what Medicare pays. But drug companies continue to rip us off because they can. G. W. Bush helped with that scene through his doughnut hole prescriptions. The point is that they'll all charge whatever they can get.

[House of Roberts]

4. I don't think even the high speed trains

are expected to negotiate sharp turns at anywhere close to 100 mph either. They may be restricted to track designed to accommodate higher speed by design.

[KittyWampus]

37. that's what I wonder. Physics says doing curves at certain speeds just inherently risky.

[LiberalElite]

9. K&R 1,000,000 nt

[csziggy]

12. Just the other day a story about Chinese maglev trains going 1800 mph

Was posted on DU. But the infrastructure for American railroads is so deteriorated trains cannot go the speeds the rail roads were originally engineered for. I've read of parts where the trains have to limit their speeds to below 40 mph when previously they could go 70-80 or better.

Tallahassee Florida no longer has passenger rail service - The Sunset Limited used to go through here but because a bridge over a bayou in Alabama was badly engineered and poorly maintained it collapsed when hit by a barge. Maybe it would have collapsed anyway, but there was no budget to rebuild that bridge so the train no longer goes from New Orleans to Jacksonville. This was a major passenger route, one I had always intended to take someday. Now if I want to take a train I have to drive to Jacksonville - that's just nuts!

[Agschmid]

33. That train isn't operational and is just a concept.

Evacuated tubes are expensive to build and maintain, that system is still some years off.

That being said, yes the American system is terrible.

[sheshe2]

13. Tell it Mr Scorpio.

KnR

[elleng]

15. It was rounding a curve.

I don't think the laws of physics are suspended even for 'exceptional' nations. And of course it was on an old roadbed, NOT one built in the last 20 years for high speed trains.

[JHB]

16. Actually, a lot in common with 2013 Spanish derailment

Thankfully, about 1/10 the death toll of that crash:

The Santiago de Compostela rail disaster occurred on 24 July 2013, when an Alvia high-speed train travelling from Madrid to Ferrol, in the north-west of Spain, derailed at high speed on a bend about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) outside of the railway station at Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Of the 222 people (218 passengers and 4 crew) aboard, around 140 were injured and 79 died.[3]

The train's data recorder showed that it was travelling at about twice the posted speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) when it entered a bend in the line. The crash was recorded on a track-side camera which shows all thirteen vehicles derailing and four overturning. On 28 July 2013, the train's driver Francisco José G.A. was charged with 79 counts of homicide by professional recklessness and an undetermined number of counts of causing injury by professional recklessness.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela_rail_disaster

[Agschmid]

34. Yes very similar.

[PoliticAverse]

17. Japanese trains can derail at 72mph.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_rail_crash

[Art_from_Ark]

25. That derailment was a long time ago

And Japan immediately took measures to prevent the occurrence of another accident like that.

And Japan's Shinkansen (bullet train) system, which has hundreds of trains criss-crossing Honshu Island every day at speeds of up to 180mph, has never had a fatal accident in the 50 years of its existence.

[mike dub]

20. Goodness

I was thinking the exact same thing this morning, MrScorpio. Thank you for this.
Totally agree.

[swilton]

21. Excellent post

Both political parties have starved Amtrak. The only reason the Northeast has an Acela the so-called 'express' train is because (so I've heard) John Kerry takes it up to Massachusetts....

You are absolutely right about labeling the problem American exceptionism.....I would also characterize it as hubris in that we have the fatal flaw of being so infatuated with our individualism that we have sacrificed the greater good (human and non-human) for the mass culture driven greed and consumerism. Consumerism is best symbolized by the emphasis placed on the vanity of fossil fuel dependent automobiles to the extent we wage wars to protect (as George Bush senior labeled it) our American way of life (awol).

[FailureToCommunicate]

22. The wreck in Italy near Naples several years ago: excessive speed. THIS wreck also was

excessive speed (in Philadelphia) not infrastructure.

Of course we should spend more on rails, but this particular Amtrak route is one of the busiest and most successful corridor routes IN THE WORLD. The train was just going too damn fast.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/06/italy.train.derailment/

[yuiyoshida]

23. one word...SHINKANSEN.

and this...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017265707

[Ron Green]

24. Recommended. Two EXCEPTIONAL problems with the infrastructure:

First, there shouldn't be a 50-mph curve on this important passenger corridor. Secondly, since there IS such a curve, Positive Train Control ought to be in place to maintain safe speed.

[philosslayer]

36. Positive Train Control WAS in place.

Both on the tracks and on the train. However, it wasn't turned on.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/05/14/exclusive-train-control-was-installed-turned-off-at-time-of-amtrak-crash-congressmen-say

[B2G]

42. You need to post this as a separate thread

Because there are many here that just don't get this.

[RoccoR5955]

26. Amsterdam to Breda in 38 minutes

to Brussels in 1.75 hours.
If they can do 250+ kph in the Netherlands, one of the most densest populated countries in Europe, and we cannot do it in the US, what makes us exceptional?
When I came back from the Netherlands, my first trip to Europe, back in late October, I felt like I was in a third world country.
Look at a time lapse HD video of the trip from Amsterdam to Brussels. Look at the condition of the rails, the railbed itself, and then tell me how exceptional the US is. (don't worry, it's only a bit over 5 minutes.)

Why do they have the money for rail transportation, but the US, one of the richest countries on earth has ratty old trains, and tracks that look like they belong in the 19th century?

And what am I still doing here, when I could be with my sweetheart in Wageningen?

You know, the Dutch don't consider themselves exceptional, and they manage to have a lot of more advanced things than we do in the US. The Internet is much faster than here, and costs less, everyone has safe water, clean air, healtcare is much cheaper than it is here, and people are generally happier. Yes they pay a little more in taxes, but from what I can see it's worth it.

[MrScorpio]

44. That is impressive...

Last edited Fri May 15, 2015, 10:40 PM - Edit history (1)

I know because I used to drive around the Netherlands during my tour in Europe. (In laws)

To me, that country is everything America should be, but we're too stubbornly regressive to become.

[RoccoR5955]

45. I understand what you mean by that

I swear, when I came home to NY, I felt like I was coming home to a third world country.

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. Of course there can be accidents with any rail system

But I think one of the points of the OP is that during the last 35 years, the wealth in America has increased dramatically, and also worker production levels. The problem is all the wealth has been steadily been redistributed to the wealthiest classes. Taxes have gone way down for the wealthiest, while government spending on things that benefit all Americans, which means mostly the middle classes and poorest classes, have been cut to make this redistribution possible. Social programs, education, healthcare and infrastructure spending have all been slowly whittled down. To the effect that the average worker has seen no real increase in standard of living.

Imagine during that dramatic increase in wealth tax rates for the wealthy had remained where they were even in Reagan's term, and we had had truly progressive responsible leadership during that 35 years. America, the richest country in the world could have its own National Healthcare for All. It may have also free college education for young people. And it would no doubt have the world's leading, fastest, and safest high speed rail system coast to coast.

[KittyWampus]

39. I love your signature line.

And I agree about need to redistribute wealth from upper echelon down.

[FuzzyRabbit]

28. Fixing our infrastructure is a fine idea, but

fixing the highways, bridges, railroads, and other parts of the public infrastructure, along with adequate funding for education, will require something that the powers that be do not want to accept.

It will require a return to what worked: the tax rates we had in the 1950s and 1960s.

I remember the 50s and 60s. Not only did the wealthy get much wealthier, economic life improved for everybody. Every year we knew that the next year would be even better for everyone, not just the wealthiest of us.

That all ended in 1981, when the US adopted Reaganomics. Since then, we no longer expect next year to be better. Until we reject Reaganomics, things will not improve except for the wealthiest.

[appalachiablue]

31. Amen. Excellent breakdown of the era-

[project_bluebook]

29. American Exceptionalism was murdered by Reaganomics

and the T bagging idiots with fox so called news lobotomies. The USA will continue it downward spiral until the majority becomes desperate enough for a kick butt revolution.

[RoccoR5955]

32. But isn't infrastructure a matter of self-defense?

So why don't the Cons want to maintain it?

[Left coast liberal]

35. A+ post! I agree 100%!

[B2G]

38. This stretch of track is slated for PTC enhancements

The are in fact MANDATED.


"One safety measure that might have prevented the accident was not in operation along that stretch of track. The system is called the positive train control (PTC), which, according to Amtrak, is designed to prevent the collision of two trains, derailments caused by excessive speed and some human errors such as misaligned tracks during switching.

The system, which Amtrak in 2012 called "the most important rail safety advancement of our time" is mandated for all U.S. commuter lines by the end of the year, but had not been installed in the fatal section of the Philadelphia track."


http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/14/amtrak-crash-engineer-derail-philadelphia/27289995/

[Scuba]

43. Great post, MrScorpio. Thanks.

[seveneyes]

46. If a frog had wings it would not bump its ass

Rocket science is simple compared to flying in two dimensions.