Talk:1996 Maryland train collision

Is this really necessary?
I'm wondering if there's really a need for this article. The MARC train article has more details than this. There's not much more to say about the incident. &mdash;Al E.(talk) 10:36, 24 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I withdraw my concern. Good job adding content and fleshing out the article. &mdash;Al E.(talk) 13:04, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Memorial
There's a couple of photos of the memorial of the accident available. They might be worth adding to the article. &mdash;Al E.(talk) 15:01, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Okay, I was bold and added them. &mdash;Al E.(talk) 17:41, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

Contradiction in death toll?
The opening paragraph says


 * "The collision killed three crew and eleven passengers on the MARC train;"

but the final paragraph in the "Accident" section says


 * "All three crew members aboard the MARC train were killed along with eight passengers."

Eight passengers plus three crew makes 11 people. Is that where the error is coming in? For what it's worth, the memorial stone lists eight names. &mdash;Al E.(talk) 14:13, 23 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Eight is the correct number, and I've updated it. Mangoe (talk) 15:07, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

Is this noteworthy
Is it worth noting that the design of the Amtrak F40PH caused most of the deaths in this crash, as that is what caused the fire, correct? From what I've read, had the fuel tank been protected like it was on the GE Genesis right behind it, there would not have been a massive fire after the impact. Feel free to agree, disagree, etc.  Sports guy17  ( T •  C ) 19:09, 31 August 2015 (UTC)


 * If you look at the recommendations you can see that one of them was directed at GE to improve fuel tank safety (the same was directed at EMD). I would read this to mean that they did not conclude that the Genesis unit's tank was enough better to have avoided a fire. In any case more blame was laid upon the fact that people just couldn't get out of the cab car. Mangoe (talk) 22:59, 31 August 2015 (UTC)


 * You do have a good point. The reality is at least eight of the people could've been saved if they had actually been able to open some of the doors and/or smash the windows on the train so that they could actually escape. It says that three people's injuries from the impact could've caused their deaths alone, but I'm wondering if at least one of those three people could've survived if they had been treated quickly enough and the fact that they couldn't be saved. Then again, I feel like this accident is full of "what if" questions. With regards to the fuel tank thing, the GE Genesis is a longer locomotive and the fuel tank was near the center, whereas the F40PH had it's fuel tank right up front and entirely unprotected. Now, I agree that the Genesis may not have necessarily not caused a fire if it had been the one to take the impact, but perhaps the severity of the fire could've been a lot less. My interpretation of the NTSB's fuel tank recommendation is that they were telling EMD and GE to either rebuild or retire any locomotives with dangerous designs that make their fuel tanks vulnerable to rupturing (and thus, very prone to causing a fire upon impact). Then again, as I said, there are so many what if questions that one could ask about the accident. In essence, the sense that I get is that this was a near worst-case scenario accident. Not much would've made this a more horrifying and deadly accident then it already had been.  Sports guy17  ( T •  C ) 13:22, 1 September 2015 (UTC)