National Railroad Passenger Corporation

Amtrak train 188 entered Philadelphia's Frankford Junction curve at 106 mph, more than twice the 50 mph restriction, on May 12, 2015. That fact is direct recorder evidence. Why the experienced engineer accelerated and failed to slow is less certain. What would have stopped the error is unusually clear: automatic enforcement of the eastbound curve speed or a fully operating positive train control system. The route had neither at the decisive location, even though older automatic train control protected the same curve in the opposite direction and Amtrak was extending a certified positive train control system toward a statutory deadline later that year. Eight passengers died, hundreds faced injury and disruption, and a preventable human error became a test of how passenger rail assigns responsibility before, during and after a high-consequence failure.