Amtrak is “adopting a safety management system approach used by commercial aviation” as it responds to the Dec. 18, 2017 derailment of Amtrak Cascades train 501 that killed three people and injured more than 60, a railroad spokesperson told me Jan. 29.
After nearly three months of emotional courtroom proceedings and nine days of jury deliberations, three former employees of Ed Burkhart’s now-defunct Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway were found not guilty of all charges arising from the 2013 Lac-Mégantic oil train disaster.
Amtrak has a new Executive Vice President and Chief Safety Officer, and he is a former chief safety officer at both Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The Jan. 9 appointment of Ken Hylander clearly signals that Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson—also a Northwest and Delta alumnus—has decided the passenger railroad’s safety programs need a wholesale overhaul.
