http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090702_Sometimes_spending_saves_lives.html

On the first Monday of summer, nine people lost their lives when Train 112 careened into Train 214 on Washington's Red Line Metrorail. A mother of six, a nurse, a command pilot, and a contract laborer were among the dead. Some 80 others were injured.  This accident was tragic, shocking, and heart-rending, but it may not have been unpreventable. Until the National Transportation Safety Board completes its assessment, we will not know for sure what caused the crash, but initial evidence suggests that outdated equipment and malfunctioning systems played a significant role. As Tom Davis, a former Republican congressman from Virginia, put it, "You've got old trains. You've got old tracks and old stations. ... There's a price for that."  There had been warning signs. After a 2004 crash in which Metro train cars collapsed into each other, the NTSB suggested strengthening the cars' frames. But plans for the repairs were abandoned because of a lack of funds. More broadly, the accident was evidence of what experts have been warning us about for years: Our infrastructure is failing. We must act now to upgrade our roads, repair our bridges and levees, improve the electrical grid, and fix drinking-water and sewer pipes - or face further dire consequences in the near future.