Michael Kemps, the Amtrak conductor who was one of two people that lost their lives in the South Carolina crash between a freight train and a passenger train, had already been involved in “four or five accidents’’ in recent years, according to his brother.
All of those were traumatic experiences for Mr Kemps which led his brother to tell him, just moments before he boarded his fatal ride: “Keep your eyes open.’
“Michael had about four or five accidents over the six or eight years he was with Amtrak, there was always someone trying to beat the tracks or a suicider waiting for a train,” his brother Richard continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Trump sent his condolences on Twitter to the families of two <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Amtrak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Amtrak</a> crew members who died in a train crash in South Carolina on Sunday while thanking First Responders “for the work they’ve done!” <a href="https://t.co/q0FAXiF5ev">pic.twitter.com/q0FAXiF5ev</a></p>— Mona Salama (@MonaSalama_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MonaSalama_/status/960216164822601735?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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“After each accident, Amtrak gave him the rest of the week off but always pushed to get him rolling again.”
“Michael had a family to take care of, and Amtrak put him back on board after checking with the psychiatrist.”
More details here: <a href="http://thegoldwater.com/news/17458-Breaking-Amtrak-Train-Collides-With-Freight-Train-In-South-Carolina"> Amtrak Train Collides With Freight Train In South Carolina</a>.
The investigation into the accident meanwhile revealed that a train track switch was in the wrong position, which was the cause for an Amtrak train being on the wrong course, setting it up for a deadly collision with a parked CSX freight train (killing two people and injuring 116 more).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sunday's train collision in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SouthCarolina?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SouthCarolina</a> was the fourth fatal incident involving an <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Amtrak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Amtrak</a> train since the start of December <a href="https://t.co/KPTUrxwhQp">https://t.co/KPTUrxwhQp</a></p>— Breaking News (@newnewspage) <a href="https://twitter.com/newnewspage/status/960452974328930304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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National Transportation Chairman Mr Robert Sumwalt: "For whatever reason, the switch was lined and locked, aligned for the train to be diverted into the siding."
"Key to this investigation is learning why it was lined that way."
Source:
http://www.wltx.com/news/local/two-dead-50-injured-after-train-derailment/514261621
Let us be clear involved vs caused.
Too many R&R crossing are still not gated. In my little town we get 30-35 trains a day headed into Atlanta or leaving towards South GA. Even with gates I have seen 3 idiot driver caused accidents in almost 4 years, plus a track washout derailment.
There always be the idiot that gets blocked in waiting on the crossing tracks for the Stoplight to change.