The real debate to have about Amtrak

By Michael Casler, Las Vegas

Sunday, June 7, 2015 | 2 a.m.

As with so many things these days, the debate I hear about Amtrak is not the debate we should be having. The debate should be over why this government program has been allowed to run at a huge deficit each year. The debate should be about why some Amtrak routes have the safety device that might have prevented this derailment, but this route, the route that carries one-third of all Amtrak passengers, did not.

I have come to care much less about whether the government spends more money in certain areas. What I care much more about now is that our government pays very little attention to how much we spend and how that compares to the money the government actually brings in via taxes. We are bankrupting our kids’ future, and we need to start making efforts to better align spending and revenue ... in all areas.

I’d also like to know why an experienced train engineer would allow a train he was driving to travel 50-plus mph faster than was recommended around a sharp curve. Surely an engineer would know that doing so would put his passengers and himself at great risk of serious injury or death. It doesn’t make much sense with what we know so far.

Our media doesn’t do enough investigating (by talking to a retired engineer, for example) to let us know what gauges and controls an engineer has at his disposal. They are too busy sensationalizing the story to do anything as mundane as that.