An Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night was blazing by at a speed of 106 miles per hour (mph) toward a stretch of curved rail where the maximum speed is pegged at 50 mph.
Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told Reuters that Brandon Bostian, the locomotive engineer for Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188, fully applied the train's emergency braking system as it approached the 50 mph zone. However, the train only managed to slow down to 102 mph, still well above the speed limit, before the locomotive and all seven cars of the train derailed.
"One hundred six miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour zone ... that's just insane," said a shocked Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia, who was clearly dismayed about the accident, further calling it "astounding" and "devastating."
Bostian, who has been working as a locomotive engineer for Amtrak for four years, is one of the more than 200 people injured in the accident. A total of 243 people, five of whom are crew members including Bostian, were onboard the train when it derailed.
In an interview with ABC News, Bostian's lawyer, whose name remains undisclosed, said Bostian does not remember the actual crash itself. Instead, the lawyer said, he remembers driving the train to the area of the crash, getting tossed around and finding his bag then calling 911. The lawyer also said Bostian is "very distraught" to learn that seven people were killed in the accident.
Bostian himself suffered a concussion and a head wound that required 14 staples. He was taken in by the Philadelphia Police Department for five hours of questioning following the accident before he was transferred to the Einstein Medical Center for treatment. Sumwalt said the NTSB plans to interview Bostian after the driver has had time to recover.
Meanwhile, investigators have recovered a kind of "black box" recorder and will be analyzing its content for more clues about the crash. They will also look into the train's forward-facing cameras for further analysis.
Sumwalt said the NTSB believes that the installation of a positive train control (PTC) system, which automatically slows down or stops high-speed trains when moving into a danger zone, could have prevented the derailment.
"We feel that had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred," he said.
All rail industry operators are required by law to install PTC by the end of 2015. However, the transportation budget for the next fiscal year saw a budget cut for Amtrak. Democrat members of the House proposed an $825 million investment in PTC, a proposal blocked by Republicans.
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