Amtrak train sped up in minute before fatal crash in north Philadelphia

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/14/amtrak-train-crash-philadelphia-driver

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Search teams recovered a body from the mangled wreckage of an Amtrak derailment in north Philadelphia on Thursday morning, bringing to eight the number of people killed when train 188 to New York from Washington DC went off the rails on Tuesday night.

Philadelphia’s mayor, Michael Nutter, confirmed the new death toll at a press conference early on Thursday afternoon and, for the first time, said the authorities and agencies working on the emergency now believed that all 243 individuals aboard the passenger services had been accounted for.

“Unfortunately we must now report that we have confirmed eight deceased from this horrible tragedy,” he said.

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Six of the eight fatalities had been identified by Thursday morning, Nutter said. Forty-three of the more than 200 people injured in the crash remain in hospitals.

The fire commissioner, Derrick Sawyer, said a search dog found the eighth body on Thursday morning in the mangled first passenger car, one of two that remains at the scene. The engine and five other cars have been taken to a secure location for 3D scans, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said.

Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman issued a statement on Thursday afternoon calling the derailment “a terrible tragedy that we are responding to with every resource we have available”.

“On behalf of the entire Amtrak family, I offer our sincere sympathies and prayers for them and their loved ones. Amtrak takes full responsibility and deeply apologizes for our role in this tragic event,” he said.

The train was moving at 106mph before it ran off the rails along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to just 50mph, federal investigators have said.

Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that the train sped up in the last minute or so before the wreck, going from 70mph to over 100mph.

He said it is not clear yet whether the speed was increased manually. So far, he said, investigators have found no problems with the track or the signals.

A lawyer for the train’s engineer said his client could not remember the crash or his actions as the train approached the curve in the tracks just north of Philadelphia. ABC reported the engineer had “no explanation” for what happened.

He was named as Brandon Bostian, 32, from New York City, by Reuters and a number of media outlets on Wednesday. Official confirmation of his identity was not immediately forthcoming.

Safety officials, however, planned to give the Amtrak engineer who was driving the train more time to recuperate from the head injuries he sustained before interviewing him.

The derailment happened along the country’s busiest rail corridor, where the national passenger railway carries 11.6 million passengers a year. Amtrak has suspended all service until further notice along the Philadelphia-to-New York stretch, forcing thousands of people to find other ways to travel.

Boardman, Amtrak’s chief executive, said the company didn’t expect to return to full service until Tuesday next week.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), investigating the crash, said on Wednesday that the train drove through the curve at up to 106mph, despite the 50mph speed limit that applies to that tight bend.

Nutter had earlier spoken of a criminal investigation but on Thursday afternoon he attempted to clarify that the investigation was not at that point yet.

“You have to have probable cause,” he said.

He said the engineer had been questioned briefly by Philadelphia police on Wednesday but had responded only that he declined to be interviewed at that point, which Nutter acknowledged was permitted under the investigation system.

“The engineer was injured. The car, we believe, tumbled over and over and over numerous times and that the engineer survived,” said Nutter.

However, he criticized his actions in relation to driving a train at 106mph towards a curve with a 50mph speed limit, adding: “I don’t think any rational person would think it was OK to travel at that speed.”

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Contradicting earlier reports, Nutter said that the train left Washington, DC, on time at 7.10pm and was also punctual leaving Philadelphia, and was not trying to “make up time”.

The engineer has not yet sat down with the National Transportation Safety Board, Sumwalt said at a press conference on Wednesday evening.

“This person has gone through a very traumatic event, and we want to give him an opportunity to convalesce for a day or so before we interview him,” Sumwalt told the press conference, describing an interview with the engineer as a “high priority”.