Yah, that's frustrating. Up here on the Northeast Corridor (Boston/New York/Philly), we have the busiest tracks (and most lucrative routes) in the country for Amtrak. They often have delays from minor to lengthy, although many of the delays usually aren't major. My frustration is that I often take a commuter rail train, and the local trains have to yield right-of-way to Amtrak. So if we have a late Amtrak train coming down from Maine, it sometimes holds up the local trains at a station, until the Amtrak passes by on the track. We rarely have to deal with any sort of freight train delays in my area (north of the city), but more south of Boston and beyond, that is more of an issue from time to time (so I've heard).
Haven't a clue how to fix the system. I think back years ago to a discussion with my father. He mentioned that after WWII, Europe needed to rebuild after the war damage, and they looked at the most expedient ways of transporting people around. Rail transport was given a priority. Meanwhile back here in the U.S., he said that cars were the "thing" and everyone wanted a car. If they could have a car, they didn't care about trains so much. Whether he was right or not, I believe he expressed a valid point. Americans do love their cars. (Personally, I'd rather take a train! Ha! But that's me . . .
) In conclusion: if dad was right, then a large group of the American voting public may not want to invest more money for rail service.
Anyway, all that aside, if the preliminary news reports are correct about the accident in Philadelpha, then it just came down to human error.
I see London, I see France...
