— Criminal charges have been reinstated against Brian Bostian, the latest twist in the legal saga of the engineer who was at the controls for the fatal Philadelphia derailment of Amtrak train No. 188 in 2015. Charges against Bostian were dropped for the second time in July 2019 when a judge said his actions did not rise to the level of criminal recklessness [see “Charges against Amtrak 188 engineer again dropped,” Trains News Wire, July 23, 2019], but on Thursday, Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Victor Stabile said the judge who issued the prior ruling improperly considered evidence that should be litigated at trial. The New York Times reports that Pennsylvania’s attorney general issued a statement saying the judge “ruled the Attorney General can move forward in our work to deliver justice,” while Bostian’s lawyer said, “This was an accident and not a crime, and we will appeal.”
— The Oklahoma House of Representatives has unanimously approved a resolution supporting the extension of Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kan. The Ponca City (Okla.) News reports House Resolution 1036 also requests that the state’s Congressional delegation take action to secure federal funding for the project. In a joint statement, two of the measure’s sponsors, Ken Luttrell (R-Ponca City) and Garry Mize (R-Guthrie) said citizens in their districts “find themselves in a transportation desert, with no access to air, bus or rail travel … Passenger rail service from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kan., is vitally important to our communities for transportation, tourism and economic development.”
— As of today, Metro Transit in Minneapolis-St. Paul is joining the large number of transit agencies requiring passengers to wear face coverings. A spokesman told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press that the agency would not deny service to those who do not comply, but that the agency believes passengers “are going to take this requirement seriously on their own.” Metro Transit remains on a reduced-service schedule, even though Minnesota’s stay-at-home order expires today.
Robert Ash, And still we have airplane crashes where Pilot Error is the cause. Similarly we have Engineer Error. We are humans and will never be perfect. And even if we have computers do all the controlling we still have seen human errors in the programming
Training and better candidates for railroad engineer positions must and should be of a high caliber. Yes, with humans involved bad things can happen, but really there is no longer a comparison of the safety and the safety culture in the airline industry vs railroads anymore. Only one domestic airline passenger has died over the last 10 years! What ever they have done, the railroad culture needs to emulate. My comments are not meant to devalue the dedicated railroaders operating trains in all kinds of conditions, but point out the difference in the management and potential hiring practices of the industry. The previous railroad industry’s management and associated personnel failures of operating crew members finally lead to the introduction and necessity of PTC. As far as Boeing, I do think there could be grounds of criminality if shortcomings of design consequences were known. I think however, the FAA came up short in their due diligence big time as well. The MAX situation is rather shocking actually. As a lay person in air technology, the certification of the MAX certainly was not been in keeping with standard practice up to that time. The planes are still on the ground! Boeing was fortunate that no crashes occurred in the U.S.. The situation demonstrates too, that the best safety and personnel hiring environment can be corrupted when money and greed join forces.
Ian Narita said “This is one long set of commentaries”. That is partly due to the fact that there are commentaries on three different NEWS topics here. And you have to read at least part of each commentary to know which topic the poster is commenting on.
Like airline pilots, I think Amtrak ,and perhaps the railroads, need to kick it up a notch as to who qualifies to be an engineer. Airline pilots have to go through psychological testing periodically to determine if they have any underlying issues that could cause panic etc. Airline pilots too have to undergo periodical testing in a simulator at least once a year to see if they qualify after being tested for various failures in flight. Furthermore, the railroad safety culture, although much improved, still needs to be sharper in the kinds of people qualified to get behind the throttle and for those who oversee the overall operational safety checks in my opinion. Same could be said for truck drivers, but that is a whole different story.
This is one long set of commentaries.
Misters Dicenso and Dickey, so if a well paid,well trained,professional makes a mistake on his job that costs lives,he/she should be held CRIMINALLY responsible. So why have we not seen any criminal prosecution of the engineers or managers at Boeing for the software design errors that caused the two 737 MAX crashes killing hundreds? Most reports about the accident state or imply that Mr Bostian accelerated his train into the curve, but if you read the second by second details of the crash you will see that he followed exactly the correct procedure when he began the acceleration, as part of a fairly complex sequence of acceleration and deceleration, acceleration. His error was not that he accelerated but that he failed to stop accelerating soon enough.The accident was the result of human error, not a criminal act.
Does anyone else here find it difficult to read comments about 3 different stories in one thread.
Regarding the ongoing debate over rail,air, bus and POV or the automobile, it is clear that in any situation or circumstance, the private auto is still and will always be the number one choice of people to get around.
Mister Dietz: I have, any number of times. and I don’t care what the vehicle is, a twenty pound piece of concrete coming through the window directly in front of you at a relative speed of 60 MPH will most definitely ruin your whole day. Is that what rattled him? Only he knows.
Yes, Mister Cutler?
I wonder how many people posting here have ever ridden in the cab of a locomotive? I have and would also be a little distracted if I heard over the radio that another train was struck by a projectile. There was a case involving one of the UA Turbo Trains in New England when someone dropped a rock off an overpass and it went through the window and killed the passenger sitting under that window.
Anna Harding,
Mister Dicenso and Mister Dickey: Perhaps all of what you are saying, but the law does take into consideration that we, all of us, are human and not machines. The charges Mister Bostian is facing are not what is known as “strict liability” offences, in which if it happens you are guilty, period. The charges he is require intent (mens rea) or at the very least deliberate negligence. This is a necessary (but not sufficient) component of the crime absent which no crime has occurred. I could put together a case for the prosecution, and I could put together a case for the defence, but this forum is not the place to do either. I do point out that several courts have ruled that it was an accident and nothing more, while other courts have remanded it for further consideration. I also point out that the current litigation is not driven by either the findings of a prosecutor nor by the findings of a grand jury, but via a provision in Pennsylvania law which allows a private party to force a prosecutor to act. So my original question still stands: Is the current litigation driven by a thirst for justice or by a thirst for vengeance? It is not an idle question. The usual disclaimer, the usual rant concerning Trains, and I’ll have two triple cheese and a side order of fries.
I’m sorry for Mr. Bostion, but he was a professional who was trained and paid to perform a duty. The passengers on that train put their lives in his hands. His primary job was to operate the train in a safe manner. My understanding is that he failed in that he allowed himself to become distracted so that he did not operate the train in a safe manner and caused death and injury to his passengers. He certainly did not mean for it to happen, but he was responsible. If he had done his job properly there would be no deaths or injuries.
ANNA – I miss the second paragraphs. FWIW I enjoyed (is that the right word) your rip on laws of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Having been born and raised in one of the other Commonwealths (Massachusetts) I know what screwy laws are.
Mister Landey: I hope you don’t mind the digs I throw your way. They are meant in jest. I don’t see that it matters. Did something rattle him such that it caused him to lose situational awareness? Yes, obviously. Did his acts rise to the level of criminality? Well now. That’s the question, isn’t it?
ANNA – That Mr. Bostian is gay has been reported. Until the last hour I never read (if this is what was implied below, and if so, whether it’s even true) that he was involved with another Amtrak employee.
Thanks for the insight and education Anna
Mister Cutler, and Mister Landey. Or, if you prefer, gentlemen and Mister Landey (chuckle). I have no clue whether Mister Bostian is gay, straight, or bent into a curlicue. Hopefully it does not matter in Pennsylvania, and it does not in theory matter under the law. But there are places in the US where such things very much do matter (and no names, no pack drill) and a properly inflamed jury, egged on by a prosecutor focused solely on obtaining a conviction, can be persuaded to ignore facts, ignore the law, ignore common sense, and render a judgement condemning in the harshest possible manner such a disgusting miscreant for having the simple temerity to breathe the same air that good righteous, upright, moral, pillars of society breathe. You must remember prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity and some, to my shame, abuse the privilege. Do I think that is the case here? No. The facts are clear, this prosecution is not being driven by the District Attorney’s office but by friends and family of those who were killed and injured in the incident, via a provision in Pennsylvania law which allows them to force the prosecutor to act. It is the motivation of these people which I question. You should read the history of the law – not the history of the English common law from which US jurisprudence is derived (as well as that of many other nations), but the history of the efforts throughout time to promulgate a single, codified law known to all and to which all are responsible. The first known example is the Code of Urukagina, roughly 4500 years ago, and there have been many others, including the well known Code of Hammurabi. In all of these (and even today) the concept of lex talonis is described (an eye for an eye) as an UPPER limit on punishment for transgression, and then as now the idea was to have a standardized set of tariffs for criminal offences, so that blood feuds, revenge killings, and the like could be brought under control (see Albania: Gjakmarrja). Some of these things ran for generations, long past the point where the participants remembered the original root cause and such things, frankly, are bad for business. As organized trade developed and extended its reach geographically (the Code of Hammurabi is an excellent example) there was a need to regulate the behaviour of the participants – and it makes fascinating reading. So back at the raunch (and I DO mean raunch…). The people driving this continued prosecution of Mister Bostian. Are they motivated by a thirst for justice, or a thirst for revenge? The usual disclaimer, the usual rant, and any bank in town will give you two fives for a ten but we are the only bank in town who will give you two tens for a five.
So, everyone is talking around the issue and at last we’re coming to what Mr. Shivik was trying to tell as at the beginning of this thread – that Bostian allegedly was distracted because he heard over the radio his boyfriend’s train was stoned. I guess that’s what Mr. Shivik was trying to tell us. So here’s my question – is this actually true or is this something that someone made up. PARAGRAPH – I’m not trying to traffic in rumors. I’d be quite content if this topic weren’t being discussed. I’m not NTSB, I’m not Amtrak, I’m not the Pennsylvania criminal justice system, I’m not part of this investigation. But it is being discussed – it has been discussed in the posts below. So folks lay your cards on the table. Is this something that NTSB has released or is it a rumor that has grown a life of its own. If this isn’t part of NTSB report on the incident then all the discussion below goes down the memory hole.
Anna Harding – Heh, thanks for the chuckle. 🙂 Here’s my original reply as best I can remember: So if there was an identical train accident with a straight male engineer (who was possibly distracted by a radio report of a thrown rock injuring his engineer girlfriend), he’d be found not guilty. However, because it’s a gay male engineer (who was possibly distracted by a radio report of a thrown rock injuring his engineer boyfriend), he’d be found guilty? That has to be blatantly unconstitutional. If a D.A. prosecutes (or fails to prosecute) someone based solely on what they are vs. what they did, then they should be disbarred. There have been several other similar cases where the engineer has not been prosecuted: the 2017 Cascades derailment with three deaths, the 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment with four deaths, and the 1990 Back Bay (Boston) non-fatal derailment all come to mind. All three were due to accidental over-speeding into a curve by the engineer. So far, no charges have been brought against the Cascades engineer, no charges were brought against the Metro-North engineer (“There was no criminality in the act, therefore no criminal charges,” said a spokeswoman for the Bronx D.A.’s office in 2015), and the engineer-in-training at the controls of the Back Bay derailment (even after being fired by Amtrak) went on to a long railroad career as a dispatcher for another railroad. His supervisor that was in the cab with him was also fired and not prosecuted, eventually retiring from Conrail.
No one has discussed the role of reflexes in a situation such as Bostian faced. He obviously was emotionally affected by what he heard over the radio and likely frightened. You can pass all the written rules for qualification but his situation can not be taught in any class.
Mister Cutler: I M horribly, horribly offended that you did not properly post your response. My next friend will meet with your next friend to make the proper arrangements, pistols for two and coffee for one. The gall of some people …
Jim Norton, agree with you 100% about why this Paul Marynowych is even allowed on these forums.
Sorry, Anna. That was weird. I had a whole response typed up right after that comma but it vanished after I hit the “Post as…” button. I guess one can’t do a line break here (but I can over on Model Railroader’s page). I will try to reconstruct my former response a little bit later. My apologies.