In Philadelphia an Amtrak train derailed killing 8 people, and injuring more than 200. Authorities say that the train speed was more than it should have been. According to Yahoo News “Investigators are still trying to piece together what led the train to enter a sharp curve at more than double the 50 mph speed limit.” In addition to this cause of the crash, investigators came up with the idea that the train engineer Brandon Bostian was using his phone while the train was in  motion. He is important to the derailment, because he was the only one with the controls before the train increased speed and headed into a sharp curve. Yahoo News say “There’s no explanation for why the train went from 70 mph about a minute before the crash to 106 mph a few seconds before it left the tracks.”

Amtrak derailments have become a big issue this year according to CNN News “The derailment was Amtrak’s ninth this year, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.” With so many crashes, we are faced with the question of which way to travel is safer- plane, train, or automobile? Statistics from Euro News say that travel by motorcycle is one of the most dangerous with from 2010 to 2014 there were 4,612 fatalities. On planes there were 4,534 casualties in airplane crashes. There were only 172 recorded deaths worldwide on trains in 2013.  So the debate clearly is not which is the safest, but how can we avoid another Amtrak accident.