The FBI is looking into the possibility that the windshield of an Amtrak train had been hit with an object shortly before the derailment of train this week in a crashing which left 8 people dead and injured more than 200.
The revelation came at a National Transportation Safety Board briefing on Friday bringing up new questions about the accident such as the possibility that the engineer may have been distracted, panicked or even wounded just moments before the train derailing since the it had been on a speed limit of twice its required limit whereas it should have been slowing down instead, as it had been entering a sharp bend in the tracks en route to NY from Washington.
According to the NTSB, the FBI will be focusing its investigation on the windshield of the train, said NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt although he declined to speculate about the exact significance of a projectile. The information about the projectile came from the assistant conductor who said she recalled hearing Amtrak engineer and a nearby Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority regional train talking to each other moments before the derailment about both their trains had been hit by an object. Sumwalt mentioned that the Amtrak train’s windshield had been shattered due to the derailment but there had been concentric circles on the lower left corner of the glass. The NTSB said there had also been another Amtrak train which had been heading south which also had its window shattered in the same area around the same time.
The investigators are looking into why the Amtrak crashed at a speed of about 106 mph in a zone where the maximum speed limit is 50 mph just before flying off the tracks. The Bostian engineer, 32, has been interviewed by the NTSB and they said he had been extremely cooperative even though he told the authorities that he has no recollection of anything that happened in the few minutes before the crash. The engineer told the investigators that he wasn’t fatigued and was not concerned about how the train was working.
The stretch of track has not yet been equipped with a positive train control system which would put the brakes of trains going above the speed limit so as of now the engineers are still reliant on their own knowledge of the tracks and printed timetables. Amtrak said that by the end of the year they will install the new control system on all their tracks.
According to Sumwalt, Bostian had “a very good working knowledge of territory, speed limitations, things like that.”
Even before the news of an object possibly hitting the train, the NTSB’s former chief railroad crash investigator, Ed Dobranetski, said there would be many questions because of the sudden speed up. He said, “It doesn’t accelerate by itself. It doesn’t go into cruise control; somebody’s got a lot of explaining to do.”
The first funeral was held for one of those killed in the wreck, on Friday. U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Justin Zemser, 20, was laid to rest on Long Island.
