© Reuters/John Altdorfer
A freight train stand idle after a derailment involving at least 10 cars which left the tracks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania May 14, 2015.
A freight train stand idle after a derailment involving at least 10 cars which left the tracks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania May 14, 2015.
Parts of a freight train derailed in Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, leaving some cars overturned or detached from their wheels, according to local station WPXI. No injuries were immediately reported.
A minor derailment also took place in South Carolina with no injuries reported, according to Georgia outlet WRDW. The engine compartment of another Amtrak train caught fire in Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon, though no passengers were hurt.
The incidents come as the Philadelphia accident—which left eight people dead and more than 200 injured—places scrutiny on the state of America's infrastructure and railroads.
"If we are going to have safe transportation systems in America, you have to invest in them. You have to keep up with state-of-the-art infrastructure," former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said in an interview with CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Wednesday.
"We haven't done that," he added.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators determined the Amtrak train was traveling at more than 100 mph—twice the area's speed limit—before it derailed while rounding a sharp curve Tuesday. The train may not have crashed if the stretch of rail had a congressionally-mandated pace control, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said Wednesday.
However, the NTSB stressed it could not yet conclude speed alone caused the accident.
LaHood on Wednesday called U.S. infrastructure—including roads and bridges—a "limp along, go along" system that Congress has a difficult time funding.
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee voted in favor of transportation infrastructure legislation that would cut Amtrak funding by $252 million in fiscal 2016.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Thursday dismissed claims that a lack of Amtrak funding could have played a role in the crash.
Reuters contributed to this report
'"If we are going to have safe transportation systems in America, you have to invest in them. You have to keep up with state-of-the-art infrastructure," former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said...'
We can't be using our precious tax payer dollars fixing up the infrastructure in this country because we need it to bring freedom and democracy to all those countries in the Middle East and Euro-Asia. Now, go back to sleep and stop whining about this unimportant stuff.