Testimony Of Robert J. Mongeluzzi Before City Council Of Philadelphia

Over today’s crash is an eerie reminder of this scene in Philadelphia just 16 months ago on May 12th 2015.

Eighteen were injured when an Amtrak train derailed. Experts have said positive train control could have prevented that crash. Action News reporter Wendy Saltzman’s is live at 30th Street Station tonight with more on that story.

Well this accident this morning is a reminder to many of these passengers that when they get on that train in the morning were they’re coming home in the afternoon they are putting their life in the hands of another person. And after that tragedy in Philadelphia it has many of these commuters wondering why war hasn’t been done to avoid another deadly derailment.

The mangled wreckage May 12 2015. Eighteen and an engineer who was believed to be distracted, hit a curve at more than twice the 50 mile per hour limits. You don’t think that when you get on a train you not might make it off alive but that’s exactly what happened in Philadelphia.

And then this morning in Hoboken, some of the details of the crashes are eerily similar.

“It’s quite a concern because I ride the train every day South West Philly,” resident Sam Hill says. He now drives more. I’d rather be safe than sorry. And the potential dangers of train travel is on the top of minds of area commuters. There’s always a risk, and you feel that risk and while passengers are looking back to the 2015 crash. They are also praying for today’s victims, but this would happen again is unthinkable.

Attorneys Tom Klein and Robert Mongeluzzi, who defended clients in the Amtrak crash, say the Philadelphia derailment should have been a wake-up call to the railroad industry and that more automatic safety controls are needed the railroad industry that still hasn’t woken up. Speed kills, and positive train control saves lives.

In the aftermath of the Amtrak 188 crash, rail routes were supposed to be installing automatic speed controls and braking mechanisms to counter any possible engineer error, but for those injured here and in New Jersey today, the change comes too late. I think they need to check out themselves more regularly to make sure the trains are safe it’s just a normal day for them. And then all of a sudden, oh not here now at all. Though there has been an extension on that time for the railroads to install those positive train control, there’s no doubt that in light of this accident the trains and railroads will be pressured into putting those safeguards in faster before more lives were lost.

Live at 30th Street Station I’m Wendy Saltzman channel 6 Action News