POLITICS AS USUAL-AMTRAK CRASH-WHAT ARE HUMAN LIVES WORTH?

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which runs between Washington and Boston, is North America's busiest railroad, with 11.6 million riders in fiscal year 2014. Every day, trains carry government officials, college students, people getting away for the weekend and corporate commuters along 363 miles of track.

Train 188 was on its way from Washington to New York on May 12, carrying 238 passengers and five crew members at the end of another workday when it derailed.

At least eight people died in Tuesday night's derailment of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 in Philadelphia.

Hospitals have treated more than 200 others, many of whom have been released. That figure includes eight in critical condition at Temple University Hospital, the closest trauma center to the crash site.

Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of more victims at the crash site.

                                     Photo Of Train Crash on May 12

Here's a closer look at some of the victims who died because they get "lost" in tragedies, with their families, and each one of these human beings are precious, deserving to have the value of their lives recognized by us.

THOSE WHO DIED:

Justin Zemser, 20,  he was attending the U.S. Naval academy in Annapolis, Maryland and heading home to Rockaway Beach, Queens, N.Y.

The U.S. Naval Academy midshipman described as a "great kid and genius" was identified from the name emblazoned on his uniform, a family member said.

Zemser, 20, was from Rockaway Beach in Queens. He was a sophomore at the Annapolis academy, according to his Naval Academy profile.

The academy notified his family of his death Tuesday night, a family member said. His parents "are beside themselves."

"The Brigade of Midshipman, staff and faculty were notified of the midshipman's death this morning," the Naval Academy said. 

"The Naval Academy is supporting the midshipman's family, friends and loved ones during this time of grief."

Justin Zemser, 20, was vice president of US Naval Academy’s Jewish Midshipmen Club;

Zemser attended Channel View High School and was a two-year letter winner on the football team as a wide receiver. 

He was team captain in 2011 and 2012, when he was named to the All-Borough Team. 

He also was elected as the student government president.

"He was a loving son, nephew and cousin, who was very community-minded. This tragedy has shocked us all in the worst way, and we wish to spend this time grieving with our close family and friends," said Zemser's mother, Susan Zemser.

When asked what they wanted people to know about Justin,  Howard Zemser & Susan Zemser answered about their only child, “He was wonderful. He was absolutely wonderful.

Everybody looked up to my son. And there's just no other words I could say."“He was born on March 25, 1995,” she said, choking back tears. “He was his high school's valedictorian.”

Though he would be the first in his immediate family to go to college, he was determined to go to the Naval Academy.

He wanted to be an elite Navy Seal.

Zemser was among the legions of determined students who persevered and graduated in 2013 even after their school was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Jim Gaines, 48, who designed video software for the Associated Press, was also killed as he headed home to New Jersey from meetings in Washington; he leaves behind a wife and two children.

In a statement, Jacqueline Gaines said: "Jim was more precious to us than we can adequately express. We kindly request that you respect our wishes for privacy as we absorb this incredible loss. In due time, we will make a statement that will fully reflect the incredible person that Jim was."The Associated Press said Gaines was a 48-year-old father of two. 

He had been attending meetings in Washington and was returning home to Plainsboro, New Jersey. He is also survived by his 16-year-old son, Oliver, and daughter, Anushka, 11.

Gaines had worked for the wire service since 1998. He was a video software architect, meaning he worked on the wire's distribution of news video to customers around the world.

                                              Rachel Jacobs, 39

Rachel Jacobs, a 39-year-old mother from New York City with a 2-year-old baby was confirmed as dead by family.

Rachel Jacobs was chief executive of the small tech company ApprenNet. She is survived by her husband and 2-year-old son.

Rachel was a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend," her family said. "She was devoted to her family, her community and the pursuit of social justice.  We respectfully ask for privacy so that we can begin the process of grieving.”

We cannot imagine life without her." “This is an unthinkable tragedy,” her family said in a statement published by the Washington Post. “.

Abid Gilani, 55, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo was also one of the victims.

The death of Wells Fargo executive Abid Gilani was confirmed by his company. 

He was a senior vice president of its hospitality finance group and was a valued member of the division, a company spokeswoman said.

"Devastated by the death of my nephew Abid Gillani a senior executive of Wells Fargo Bank in the train accident," his uncle, Zahid Hussain, posted on Facebook.

 "He was returning to New York after attending the funeral of my brother Shahid Husain in Washington."

Gilani and his mother from Toronto had attended funeral services for his uncle in Virginia, and he had to return to New York City for work, a cousin told the Daily News.

The married father of two was a Canadian citizen, who had recently relocated with his family to Walnut Creek, Calif. from Maryland while his kids went to college on the West Coast. 

The dedicated dad and executive had to commute across the country each week to work in Manhattan and returned home each weekend to California to be with his wife.

Dr. Derrick Griffith, 42, a dean of student affairs for City University of New York Medgar Evers College was also killed.

 

Dr. Derrick Griffith, a dean of student affairs for City University of New York Medgar Evers College, was also among the fatalities, according to Jamilah Fraser, spokeswoman for the university. He lived in Brooklyn.

He was the founding director of CUNY Prep in New York, Fraser said. He earned his doctorate in philosophy last month.

                                                                                         

Robert Gildersleeve, 45, vice president of corporate accounts for institutional business at Ecolab                                                                                                     

Robert Gildersleeve, 45,  a vice president of corporate accounts for institutional business at Ecolab, a Minneapolis-based company that provides water, hygiene and energy technologies services, according to the company.

Married, Gildersleeve is the father of two teenagers, a daughter, 16, and a son, 13.

Roman Blahoski, a spokesman for Ecolab, said Gildersleeve has been employed there for 22 years and was on the Amtrak train traveling to New York City for business.

Laura Finamore, 47, Senior account director Cushman & Wakefield 

                                          

The family of Laura Finamore, an employee at Cushman & Wakefield in New York for the past seven years, announced Thursday that she was one of the eight victims killed in the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia. 

Finamore, 47, of Manhattan, was born and raised in Douglaston, New York and has been working at the real estate management firm since 2008. According to the company's website she was a senior account director at the New York office.

 A spokesman for the family said she was attending a memorial service for a college friend's mother at Arlington National Ceremony and was headed from Washington to New York when Amtrak #188 crashed.

"Laura was an incredibly loving and giving person, touching many people each and every day through her generous spirit, thoughtfulness and compassion for others," her family said in a statement. "She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

"Family members said she was a "devoted daughter" to her parents Cynthia and Richard, and had three brothers, Michael, Paul and Peter, as well as seven neices and nephews. 

A spokesman for the family said she was attending a memorial service for a college friend's mother at Arlington National Ceremony and was headed from Washington to New York when Amtrak #188 crashed.

Giuseppe Piras, 40, Business Director, Sardinia Italian Cooperative 

The Italian government has confirmed that one of its citizens, businessman Giuseppe Piras, also died in the 

An avid cyclist, Piras was identified after his worried family contacted the Italian consulate in Philadelphia and sent them his picture.

Amtrak crash.Giuseppe Piras was heading to New York City to sell wine and olive oil on behalf of a cooperative in his native Sardinia.

“We are shocked,” the city’s mayor, Tonino Orani, told the newspaper L’Unione Sarda. “Giuseppe Piras was highly respected in the country.”Piras was married but did not have children.

                                                                             

THE INVESTIGATION:

The train was traveling at 106 mph when the engineer applied the emergency brakes as it entered a steep curve, where the speed limit is 50 mph, Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

The last recorded speed before the data cut out was 102 mph, he added.

NBC News identified the engineer driving the train as Brandon Bostian, 32, of New York City, who has hired a lawyer and refused to speak with detectives. 

The announcement came after the Associated Press analyzed video of the train and discovered it was traveling at 107 mph as it approached a curve in the tracks, where the speed limit drops from 80 mph to 50 mph.

The Associated Press analysed video of the train and discovered it was traveling at 107 mph as it approached a curve in the tracks, where the speed limit drops from 80 mph to 50 mphhe train was traveling at 106 mph when the engineer applied the emergency brakes as it entered a steep curve, where the speed limit is 50 mph.

“Based on what we know right now, we feel that had a system called Positive Train Control been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred,” National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt, who is leading the crash probe told reporters Wednesday evening.

WHAT IS POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL?

Known as positive train control (PTC), the technology automatically slows or even halts trains that are moving too fast or heading into a danger zone.

It can override a train conductor who is exceeding speed, and under current law, the rail industry must adopt the technology by year end.

PTC works by using a global positioning satellite to pinpoint trains. The idea is that it can do this with enough accuracy to allow them to run closer together.

It sends real-time visual and audible information to train crew members about locations where the train needs to be slowed or stopped.

Among other things, it takes into account approaching signals, speed limits, curves in the 

track, construction work and the position of approaching switches.

PTC then communicates with the train's onboard computer to audibly warn conductors if they are approaching danger.

A display shows the train's safe braking distance based on its speed, length, width, weight, and curvature of the track.

If a response is not provided by the train engineers in ample time, the computer remotely activates the brakes and stops the train.

While this automatic braking system has been available since 1990, the technology remains widely unused.

Positive train control was one 10 items on the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) Most Wanted List last year

The commuter rail route where the Amtrak train left the track on Tuesday was not using this life-saving braking technology.

POLITICS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HUMAN LIVES:

So why wasn't this Positive Control System installed on the track?

Lawmakers from both parties have previously offered bills to add years to a congressionally imposed Dec. 31 ,2015 deadline for railroads to install positive train control, which both the railroads and DOT say the industry cannot meet.

Guess what??? 

On Wednesday, just hours after the crash, the House Appropriations Committee backed a measure that would slash Amtrak's budget by $251 million, giving the rail operator $1.1 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.

In the House, the Appropriations Committee voted 30-21 along party lines for a bill that would give Amtrak about $260 million less than its typical $1.4 billion share. 

The panel defeated Democratic amendments meant to restore or boost the funding that would have offered $825 million for the above technology known as positive train control.

In his February budget, President Barack Obama had asked for $2.5 billion for Amtrak, citing the need for investments in infrastructure and improvements along the Northeast Corridor.

Rail advocates have been particularly concerned with the current set of cuts.

“We cannot prevent major infrastructure failure on the NEC and support important long distance rail service without greater federal investment on an annual basis,” said Robert Yaro, president of the NAR, according to The Hill. 

The last time that a major piece of legislation on Amtrak funding was passed in Congress was in the wake of a deadly train crash in California in 2008 that killed 25 people. 

The House passed a reauthorization of the bill in March that allows funding for vital repairs to infrastructure in the Northeast corridor, where Amtrak's traffic is heavy and where the crash occurred. 

But the White House and some Congressional Democrats have said that funding doesn't go far enough to ensure rail safety. 

Republicans said the cuts are necessary to stay under the spending caps that President Barack Obama and Congress agreed to four years ago.

Then, Congress passed a comprehensive bill reauthorizing funding and helping ensure rail safety.

Republicans argue that the current allocation keeps key funding measures intact while forcing Amtrak to be more responsible with its annual construction budget.  

“We urge the committee and your partners in the Senate to authorize greater annual investment levels in a final reauthorization package.”

In September, the Northeast Alliance for Rail sent a letter to the House Transportation Subcommittee urging Congress to keep key provisions of the railroad budget intact to ensure safety.

Beyond rail, Congress is just 18 days from the expiration of the law that authorizes federal spending on highways, bridges and mass transit and the biggest debate in the Capitol is whether to kick the can down the road to either July or December. 

Meanwhile, the FAA is struggling to implement an advanced, GPS-based air traffic control system that’s supposed to improve safety and reduce congestion, and Vice President Joe Biden has likened the condition of some U.S. airports, like New York’s LaGuardia, to something out of “some Third World country.”

We have a Highway Trust Fund on the brink of insolvency with no plans, to fix it . 

We have a crowded and outdated aviation system that we refuse to adequately fund.

We have failed to upgrade with presently available technologies that can reduce the number of failures.

We have appropriations bills aiming to cut already low funding levels of Amtrak in particular to meet an arbitrary budget cap. 

We are not close to where we need to be for our roads, highways, bridges, transit and inter-city passenger rail

Funding of our infrastructure and transportation could not have occurred at a more unfortunate or appropriate time. 

America's bridges, highways, and public transportation have suffered from insufficient funding for decades, and the results of the neglect have recently turned ugly.

The latest “report card” from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation a D-plus on the state of its transportation infrastructure.

Now comes the investigation, but I'm going to make a prediction. Congress will debate these infrastructure needs to death and then end up doing little to nothing about installing the safety systems that could have prevented this and future tragedies. 

The fact that this is all preventable, that human beings are dying who didn't have to lose their lives, is enraging.

Congress can throw untold billions at quote "Protecting the Homeland" from terrorists, then they can throw a few more million at upgrading our crumbling infrastructure, before we sabotage more of our country by neglect in killing our own people.

OUR POLITICIANS WON'T DO IT BECAUSE THEY DON"T CARE ABOUT OUR LIVES, INSTEAD POLITICS, CORRUPTION, GREED, IS THE GOD THEY SERVE.