[libstripper]

Crucial quote from the SC governor, appearing later in the article:

"It appears to me that the CSX was on the track it was supposed to be on, a switch track," the governor said. "They weren't supposed to be meeting like that, that's what it appears to me."

From this quote and the pictures, it looks like the Amtrak train was mistakenly switched onto another track where the CSX train was sitting, possibly unattended, and they collided head on with the Amtrak going about 49 mph.

[palmer]

Their vaunted automated train control is going to fix this? Yeah right, it probably caused this.

[Nifster]

And we want to have driverless cars and trucks?

Relying on computers is always iffy

[Paladin2]

https://storify.com/cmgnationalnews/amtrak-train-derails-in-south-carolina

[Carl Vehse]

The cause appears to be a switch that was set to divert the the 60-mph Amtrak train onto a side track where it slammed into a parked, unoccupied freight train. The manual switch had been used earlier to move the freight train from one side track to another. The manual switch had been locked.

• But was its position signal electronically transmitted up the track to a light to warn the Amtrak engineers?!?
• Was the signal electronically sent to someone at a track monitoring station to alert them?!?
• When was the switch made to a side track for the freight train?!?
• When was the switch restored back to the main line?!?
• Was the switch subsequently moved again to the side track?!?
• Are these switching signals not stored on at least one computer and backed up on another?!?
• Are the times these switches are made not stored on at least one computer and backed up on another?!?
• Is not a printout of the (signals, times, switch operators, authorizations, safety checks, maintenance) history of that particular switch over some selected period of time available with a few simple key strokes?!?