The Amtrak derailment and the future of U.S. infrastructure

Air Date: December 21, 2017

A damaged Amtrak passenger train car is lifted from the tracks at the site of the derailment of an Amtrak train in Dupont, Wash., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. Investigators are looking into whether the Amtrak engineer whose speeding train plunged off an overpass on Monday, killing several people, was distracted by the presence of an employee-in-training next to him in the locomotive, a federal official said Tuesday. (Thomas James/Pool via AP)

Guests: Allan Zarembski, Robert Puentes

The AmTrak derailment in Washington highlights the need to repair and update our country’s infrastructure. President Trump promised a big infrastructure initiative during his campaign, and is soon announcing his plan to fix the nation’s roads, bridges, rails, grids, and plumbing. Today on the show, we’re going to look at the issues surrounding the train crash, the current state of our infrastructure, what needs to be repaired, and what an infrastructure bill should include. We’re joined by ALLAN ZAREMBSKI, professor and director of the Railroad Engineering and Safety Program at the University of Delaware, and by ROBERT PUENTES, President and CEO of Eno Center for Transportation, a policy consulting group.

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