Lots of speculation, lots of discussion, the facts will come out when the investigation is completed.
Eh, why not make comments of my own too. . .
Anyone else notice the quoted report mentioned RED over YELLOW, and then everyone afterwards {here} says YELLOW over RED?
AND, (preface this with a disclaimer that I've seen no direct quotes of the Dispatcher's radiod instructions) that verbal instructions don't quite match exactly the signal & situation?
Now combine the two. . .
Any of you ever play that fun prank of casually mentioning a number out loud to someone concentrating on counting money? doesn't take much.
NOW, add "reversi factor". My Motorola (Radio) days, we did the security radios for the last Olympics in Los Angeles. I still don't say too much about many of the procedures we had to follow, but one I'll mention (albeit only vaguely) was "Absolutely no opposites. Someone will undoubtedly screw something up and get someone killed."
I'm not interested in passing blame around; just looking at what possible factors might need to be eliminated to prevent the next one.
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Next thought: Isn't there some move currently underfoot by the FRA to standardize signals in the US? I as told something like that this past Summer when CSX replaced MANY signals on the Pere Marquette lines here.
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Yet another one: Contrary to an earlier post, the wreck made front page with many pictures and bold-face quotes for the past three days, while the invasion of Hillary's office was on page three. But then again, this is Grand Rapids, and the Pere Marquette is considered "our" train and Amtrak's actual ownership is a mere technicality. In fact, it'd be blue, yellow and grey if we could get away with it. BTW, in spite of lots of scary-type quotes about the collision and its pictures, there hasn't been a single peep from the Amtrak-is-dangerous crowd.
Alan, I have copies iff'n you're interested.