"We’re learning as we go" is what Patti Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads, said about the railroad industry installing security systems to prevent rail accidents like the one that killed 25 people in suburban Los Angeles on September 12.  This gem comes from the reporting by Christopher Conkey, Andy Pazstor, Alex Roth and Peter Sanders in the Wall Street Journal.  They dug up another frank admission of ignorance, too, as Joseph Boardman, the Bush administration’s top railroad safety official, said "there’s a lot of changes that need to occur to make this happen." 

A technology called Positive Train Control, or PTC, is widely judged to be ready to roll out across the country, and Rep. James Oberstar (D-Mn.) is charging that the railroad industry has been unwilling "to make the needed investments in safety" to stop these accidents.  Boardman favors a collaborative approach between government and industry and says five more years of research could solve the problem.  Let’s do the math:  5 more years of collaboration = X accidents = Y lives lost.  And apparently only one broken career: the LA Metrolink spokeswoman, Denise Tyrrell, who admitted it was likely that an LA Metrolink driver missed the stop signal, has resigned under pressure.  -NH

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