The report comes ahead of Monday’s anticipated release of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the May 2015 derailment of Amtrak Train 188 in Philadelphia, which killed eight people.
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Among the evidence are transcripts of two interviews investigators had with the engineer, Brandon Bostian.
The Amtrak train accelerated to 106 miles per hour in a 50 mile-per-hour speed limit zone at the curve in the tracks between Port Richmond and Kensington.
Of the 238 passengers on the train, eight were killed and more than 200 injured.
In a subsequent interview, Bostian said he vaguely recalled feeling the train was about to tip over as it navigated the curve and trying to apply the brake, but he said his memory may be suspect.
The NTSB said Monday that evidence showed no issues with the tracks, signals or the locomotive.
Moments later, Bostian blew the horn and the train derailed, Henry said.
The findings were included in 2,200 pages of interviews, reports and other documents released by the NTSB, marking the end of its investigation into the derailment. A grapefruit-sized fracture pattern was discovered in the windshield of the locomotive after the crash.
The train’s data recorder shows that at about 55 seconds – a mile and a half – before the Frankford Junction curve, one of the sharpest in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, Bostian applied full throttle and held it there for about 30 seconds.
When he realized the train was about to derail, Bostian recalled holding tightly to the controls and thinking, “Well, this is it, I’m going over”, according to the documents.
Investigators said, “Analysis of phone records does not indicate that any calls, texts, or data usage occurred during the time the engineer was operating the train.”
Before the derailment, Bostian says he was “concerned” by a report from SEPTA that rocks may have been thrown or shots may have been fired at a train in the area.
The lack of clarity on what caused the Philadelphia train to speed has frustrated crash victims, some of whom have racked up more than $1 million in hospital bills and are continuing to rehabilitate from injuries. Investigators examined the phone’s operating system, which contains more than 400,000 files, according to the NTSB.
NTSB has wrapped up its investigative phase into the accident. “And he just looked at me and he said, ‘I don’t know'”.
Bostian said when he came to his senses following the derailment, he got his cellphone out of his bag, turned it on, and turned off airplane mode before dialing 911.
“Our investigators found the engineer to be extremely cooperative”, he said. He said Bostian wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Amtrak installed more advanced automatic-braking technology known as positive train control, more widely throughout the Northeast Corridor. Other trains in the vicinity of Frankford Junction reported being hit by rocks that evening not long before the derailment.
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In June, the NTSB determined that Bostian wasn’t using his mobile phone prior to the crash.
