Economy

#BUSINESS NEWS DECEMBER 19, 2017 / 1:04 AM / UPDATED 28 MINUTES AGO

Amtrak safety record already under scrutiny before fatal derailment

David Shepardson, Daniel Trotta
5 MIN READ

(Reuters) - The deadly derailment of an Amtrak train south of Seattle is likely to intensify scrutiny of the national passenger railroad company’s safety record, which was already under the microscope following a series of fatal incidents.

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Amtrak’s co-chief executive, Richard Anderson, told reporters earlier on Monday he would not speculate on the cause of the derailment and said safety was the company’s top priority.

However, Anderson acknowledged that a working Positive Train Control (PTC), a system that automatically slows trains if they are going too fast, had not been installed on that stretch of track. PTC also prevents train-on-train collisions and stops a train from passing through misaligned tracks.

Moreover, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt just last month issued a scathing critique of Amtrak’s culture, saying a future breakdown was likely.

“Amtrak’s safety culture is failing and is primed to fail again, until and unless Amtrak changes the way it practices safety management,” Sumwalt said on Nov. 14.

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