The devastating Amtrak train crash in Philadelphia could prove to be a strong reminder that Americans must tell their elected leaders they are willing to spend money to improve the nation's crumbling infrastructure, transportation expert Mark Hallenbeck told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"It's not that the money's not being spent right," Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center, told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner. "It's that we as citizens aren't telling the elected officials that we will spend the money, we will add money to the system, to pay for those things.
"We elect these people and we tell them we un-elect them when they raise our taxes," Hallenbeck said.
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The Amtrak train crashed about 9:10 p.m. Tuesday while rounding a curve after leaving Penn Station in Philadelphia. The locomotive was traveling at 106 mph and hit the turn at 102 mph, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday after a preliminary investigation.
Seven people died and more than 200 were hospitalized.
In response to Hallenbeck's comments, Alan Pisarski, a transportation consultant and author of transportation policy for the Heritage Foundation, said states have many infrastructure problems because the few dollars budgeted for such large projects end up going to the most-needed ones.
"They try to do a good job," he said of state officials. "On the bridges, we've made progress on reducing the structurally deficient bridges around the country.
"What they do in many states, and this is what the real issue was, they've taken the money and put it in the most important areas: the roads that are most heavily used," Pisarski told Berliner. "What gets shortchanged . . . are maybe the smaller bridge, the smaller road, somewhere in a rural area.
"Eventually, that comes back to bite you."
In the Philadelphia case, Hallenbeck called for some sort of warning system in the car carrying the train's engineer.
"Certainly there could be an oversight system. That's what positive train control is all about," he said, adding that the issue brings tougher scrutiny for Amtrak.
"I'm for more money on infrastructure spending, but . . . there are a wide variety of issues why you don't necessarily have positive train control.
"One, technology is changing so quickly," he said. "Had you tried to put in positive train control six or eight years ago, the technology you would have put in was completely out of date by this point.
"So, trying to pick the correct technology and put it in place is expensive," he said, adding that "at the same time, when we don't have enough money to just do basic maintenance, it's really hard to set aside the time and money to put in expensive new systems like positive train control."
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