Sadly, an accident like this is virtually inevitable within a culture that does not truly value safety. Yes, I know the Amtrak says all the right things, but time after time there are reports of crews relieved due to safety violations. Too often you hear Amtrak people minimize those events with such responses as "no one got hurt" or "humans sometimes make mistakes." Earlier this year, Joe Boardman sent out a memo that pleaded with employees to up their safety awareness.
Among safety professionals, there is a philosophy called the pyramid of safety. The base of the pyramid are simple violations. Those build toward the middle, which are accidents that do not result in injury. Finally, at the top of the pyramid, the bad outcome occurs, with someone badly hurt or killed. Tolerance of each of the lower levels builds the pyramid and leads to the bad accident at the top. Eliminate the excuses, stop the issues at the bottom of the pyramid, and you do not get to the top.
Here are the 2013 FRA stats comparing Amtrak to the other Class 1 railroads for the number of employee cases per 200,000 hours worked. The numbers are pretty revealing. The lower numbers are indicate better safety performance.
Amtrak - 4.08
BNSF - 1.10
CN - 1.89
CP - 2.17
CSX - 0.91
KCS - 1.82
NS - 1.17
UP - 1.15
Amtrak, by far, has the worst employee safety record of any Class 1 railroad. Amtrak is more than twice as bad as the average for all the other Class 1's. It is more than four times as bad as the industry leader.
This type of performance is always a cultural issue. The rules and procedures are there, but for various reasons, the adherence to those rules is lacking. This is a management failure. A few months ago, a senior Amtrak executive was discharged due to safety issues within his department. It would appear that some additional actions need to be taken. The entire organization has to be made aware that safety is number one and overrides all other priorities: that everyone from the top down will be held accountable.
An Amtrak employee went to work yesterday and did not come home. There is no question it could have been prevented. No matter what the final outcome of the investigation, no matter who is found "at fault", Amtrak management is to blame.