Federal crash investigators are expected to rule Tuesday that the engineer in the fatal Amtrak crash in Philadelphia a year ago was distracted by radio messages, according to published reports.
Advertisement
The crash on May 12, 2015 killed eight people and injured hundreds of others when the train, going 106 miles per hours in a 50 mile per hour zone, jumped the tracks.
Speculation about the cause of the derailment has focused on the engineer, Brandon Bostian, who told investigators he doesn’t remember what caused the crash.
Emergency workers look through the remains of Amtrak train #188 following its derailment in Philadelphia on May 13, 2015..
The official was not authorized to comment publicly because of the ongoing probe and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
The NTSB will hold a hearing in Washington, D.C., Tuesday where board members will vote on the final report in the investigation of the deadly derailment.
“It seemed like that was a scenario where it would be really easy for someone to get struck by a train, out in the middle of the night with a lot of radio confusion going on”, he told investigators.
Specifically, he was distracted by radio conversations between other trains and dispatchers about other trains being hit with projectiles, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded.
NTSB investigators say they found no evidence the Amtrak engineer was using alcohol, drugs or a cell phone.
Another train’s engineer had reported that his windshield had been hit by something – possibly a gunshot.
Advertisement
Bostian, regarded by friends for his safety-mindedness and love of railroading, has been suspended without pay since the crash. Dozens of victims have sued Amtrak for compensation.
