NTSB Urges Cameras For Amtrak Nuclear Power Plants

Why do you think the US public has never seen a actually plant trip or accident through a video recording? 

But of the extraordinarily protectiveness of the NRC protecting the nuclear industry...not mandating recorders in the control room. 

NTSB urges cameras for Amtrak trains 

The National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday urged Amtrak to install "crash- and fire-protected inward- and outward-facing audio and image recorders" on all locomotives.  

The recommendation came in response to the May 12 derailment of Amtrak Train 188 in Port Richmond that killed eight passengers and injured 200. 

Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman said last month that Amtrak would install inward-facing video cameras in all of its 300 locomotives, starting with 70 Siemens locomotives now being put into service on the Northeast Corridor. 

Amtrak trains already have outward-facing cameras.
The NTSB, which has been pushing for cameras for years, said it was encouraged by Amtrak's actions, "but believes that additional requirements for a complete inward- and outward-facing audio and image recorder system are necessary." 

The NTSB also asked for semiannual public progress reports on installing the recorders, since Boardman did not specify how soon they would be in place. 

Such recorders would assist crash investigators and help Amtrak supervisors determine if crew members are following operating rules, the NTSB said in a letter sent Wednesday to Boardman by NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart. 

The union that represents Amtrak engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, has opposed the cameras as an invasion of privacy. 

Union officials did not respond Wednesday to a reporter's requests for comment on the NTSB recommendation. 

Last month, Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, told a House committee that "installation of cameras will provide the public nothing more than a false sense of security."  

"These cameras are an accident-investigation tool and not an accident-prevention tool," Pierce said. "Not a single life would have been saved if the locomotive cab on Amtrak 188 had been equipped with an inward-facing camera." 

Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz said, "Amtrak is reviewing the NTSB recommendations and will incorporate them, as appropriate, into our plan to install inward-facing cameras in the locomotive fleet."