Amtrak is spending billions on new train cars. The Northeast Corridor should be first in line, some experts say.I can’t forget the photograph, taken from the air, of Amtrak Train 188 at the scene of its derailment in Frankford — shaped like a Z, some of its cars on the ground. Eight people were killed, 46 seriously injured. What does that have to do with the Pacific Northwest?
AmeriStarRail, the upstart start-up from Wilmington, criticizes Amtrak for planning to send new trainsets being built with updated crash protection first to the Cascades route in 2026, instead of the Northeast Corridor to replace older 50-year-old passenger cars like Train 188′s. Federal authorities concluded the cause of the crash was a distracted engineer who took a curve at more than twice the 50-mph posted speed.