Amtrak Train Crashes In Philadelphia Area

[Webster]

USA Today: Reports - Amtrak Train Crashes In Philadelphia

An Amtrak train has derailed in Philadelphia and train cars have rolled over, according to a tweet from a news anchor for 6ABC in Philadelphia. The incident took place Tuesday evening at a Philadelphia intersection, according to 6ABC's Jim Gardner.

A man identifying himself as a passenger on the train has tweeted that there were injuries.

NPR: Amtrak Train Derails, Injuries Reported

A Washington, D.C., to New York Amtrak train has crashed and derailed in Philadelphia, the Associated Press reports, causing several injuries. Some cars appear to have rolled.

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy reported on Twitter that he was on the train — which AP reports was entering a curve at the time of the crash — and assisting injured passengers, and that he himself was unhurt. Eight to 10 cars were involved in the derailment, NBC reported.

NPR will provide updates as they become available.

...thoughts and prayers go out to the injured....

 

[Webster]

Here's the Google News real-time feed of what's going on in Philadelphia w/the train derailment above...

 

[Webster]

CNN: 6 Dead, Over 200 Injured In Amtrak Derailment
Excerpt...

(CNN)Fighting to stay alive. Mourning the dead. And figuring out why this came to be -- how an Amtrak train could suddenly derail, sending its cars and passengers flying.

That was the stark reality Wednesday, as relatives raced to the sides of their injured loved ones and rescue workers and investigators scoured the mangled wreckage of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 in Pennsylvania.

The train left Washington on Tuesday with 238 passengers and five crew members aboard, heading for New York. But it never made it, derailing around 9:30 that night in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The crash killed six people. One of them was Jim Gaines, a father of two who worked as a video software architect for The Associated Press, his company said.

Another was a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman in full uniform heading home to New York on leave from the Annapolis, Maryland, school. A family member described 20-year-old Justin Zemser as a great person and genius whose death has left his parents "beside themselves."

Hospitals have treated more than 200 people, at least half of whom have been released. That figure includes eight in critical condition among the 25 wounded passengers at Temple University Hospital -- the closest trauma center to the crash site -- according to Herb Cushing, the hospital's medical director.

He said many passengers were injured when other passengers or objects fell on them. One of those hurt is the train's conductor, who received medical treatment and has briefed investigators, or will soon do so, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said.

Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of more victims at the crash site. "We are heartbroken by what we've experienced here," Nutter said Wednesday morning. "We have not experienced anything like this in modern times."

'A lot of questions'
The miracle may be how some escaped relatively unscathed, given the severity of the derailment, which included the train's engine and all seven cars. "It is amazing," Nutter told CNN. "I saw some people last night literally walking off that train. I don't know how they did it."

A U.S. Department of Transportation representative told CNN on Wednesday that the engine and two cars were left standing upright, three cars were tipped on their sides, and one was nearly flipped over on its roof. The seventh one was "leaning hard."

Seven investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site by 10 a.m., and more are on the way, Nutter said. They have recovered a recorder (or "black box") and have walked through the crash scene, but much more work remains to be done.

Among other things, authorities will examine the condition of the track and the train, how the signals operated and "human performance," NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said.

Speed is one issue that investigators are seriously looking at in light of the angles of the wreckage and type of damage to the cars, according to an official with direct knowledge of the investigation. The speed limit in the crash area is around 50 mph (80 kph).

So far, there's nothing to indicate the incident was an act of terrorism. And Philadelphia's mayor said there's no indication that another train had anything to do with the derailment. "You have a lot of questions, we have a lot of questions," Sumwalt told reporters late Wednesday morning. "We intend to answer many of those questions in the next 24 to 48 hours."

Phones, laptops, people sent flying
The Washington-New York corridor is the busiest stretch for Amtrak nationwide. Hundreds of trains, carrying thousands of passengers, have made that trip in recent years, most of them rolling seamlessly from start to finish on a roughly 3½-hour journey.

That's what seemed to be happening Tuesday night, passenger Daniel Wetrin told CNN. "Everything was normal," he said. "Then it was just chaos."

Jeremy Wladis was in the very last car, eating, when she noticed the train starting to do "funny things. And it gradually starts getting worse and worse." Things started flying -- phones, laptops. "Then people." "There were two people in the luggage rack above my head. Two women, catapulted (there)."

As she read a book in the second-to-last car, Janna D'Ambrisi said, she "felt like we were going a little too fast around a curve. The car she was in started to tip, and she was thrown onto another girl.

"People started to fall on us," she said. "I just held on to her leg and sort of bowed my head and I was kind of praying, 'Please make it stop.' " Fortunately, D'Ambrisi's train car didn't tip over and she made it out safely.

 

[michonne]

On the way home from work I heard the train was traveling at a rate of approximately 107 mph on a turn in the track where it was only supposed to be traveling at 50mph.......someone is going to need a lawyer..

 

[Jazzy]

I just heard on the radio that the engineer of the train is refusing to answer any questions. He was seen leaving the questioning with his attorney.

 

[michonne]

I just heard on the radio that the engineer of the train is refusing to answer any questions. He was seen leaving the questioning with his attorney.

Yes, he's going to need a good lawyer.....

 

[Jazzy]

~Update~

The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, killing at least seven people, was traveling at a speed of at least 100 miles an hour, twice the speed limit on that stretch of track, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The train’s speed was recorded in the so-called black box data recorders that were recovered from the wreckage, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation, while emergency crews searched for more survivors and victims of a wreck that injured more than 200 people.

The recorders were taken toAmtrak’s operations center in Delaware to download information like the train’s speed, images from a video camera on the engine and a log of when the train’s operator used tools like the brake, throttle and horn, officials said at a news conference.

Passengers who emerged battered and bloodied described a chaotic, terrifying scene, with people thrown against walls, furniture and each other, and luggage and other loose items flying through the air and hitting people.

The wreck occurred as the New York-bound train made a sharp left turn at a rail yard called Frankford Junction, northeast of downtown, where multiple freight and passenger routes converge, and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor makes one of its sharpest turns.

The speed limit on that curve is 50 miles an hour, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, and on either side of the curve it is 70 m.p.h. That area, in the Port Richmond section of the city, does not have a safety system called Positive Train Control that can, among other features, automatically reduce the speed of a train that is going too fast.

Mayor Michael A. Nutter of Philadelphia, at a news conference, refuted reports that the engineer who was driving the train had refused to speak to investigators. “The engineer was injured, received medical care, and was interviewed by the Philadelphia Police Department,” he said.

Read more

This engineer is in deep crap right now.

 

[michonne]

This engineer is in deep crap right now.

And well he should be!! This is horrible and he needs to be held accountable

 

[Webster]

Washington Post: Probe Into Amtrak Derailment Sharpens Focus Towards Engineer
Excerpt...

PHILADELPHIA — Investigators sought Thursday to piece together the final moments aboard Amtrak train 188 with two key questions still out of reach: a full account of the engineer’s actions and why the northbound cars hurtled into a curve at more than twice the speed limit.

But even as the probe narrowed, larger issues about the state of the nation’s rail lines surfaced — including whether safety shortcomings contributed to Tuesday’s deadly accident along the nation’s busiest passenger rail corridor.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done and will be done,” said Robert Sumwalt, a board member of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Could the speed alone have caused this crash? That’s certainly part of the analysis, that’s exactly what we want to find out. Why did this train derail?”

Part of the answer could rest with the engineer. His attorney says his client suffered a concussion and has only clouded memory of the accident that killed seven people. “He was pretty beat up,” the attorney, Robert Goggin, told ABC News, adding that the engineer — whom he identified as Brandon Bostian, 32, of Queens — has multiple stitches on his head and leg.

“As a result of his concussion, he has absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the events,” Goggin said. He said he believes the engineer’s memory will probably return once the head injury subsides.

Although the engineer applied the emergency brakes, it was not soon enough and the Washington-to-New York train careened off the rails into a jumble of wrenched metal, blown-out windows and bloodied survivors struggling through darkness, trying to light their way with cellphones.

NTSB investigators said there is technology available, known as Positive Train Control, that prohibits trains from exceeding speed limits. The system is in place in much of the Northeast Corridor, but Amtrak had not installed it on the section of track where the derailment happened. Congress has mandated that the system be installed throughout the U.S. rail system by the end of this year.

“Had such a system been installed on this section of track, this accident would not have occurred,” said Sumwalt.

Philadelphia police, meanwhile, interviewed the train’s engineer, who was required to undergo drug and alcohol testing after the crash. No details were immediately made public.

 

[+paradox]

hopefully justice will be served here...

accountability is on the engineer's shoulders...

 

[Jazzy]

Investigators are learning more about the speeding Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight and sending over 200 to the hospital, but the jury is still out on the big questions.

Why did the train accelerate as it approached a curve? Did the engineer cause the train to speed up, or was there a mechanical failure? Was there something about the track that caused the crash?

Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian has agreed to be interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board, and board member Robert Sumwalt is hopeful that Bostian will be able to help answer some key questions. The 32-year-old engineer, who was injured, will be permitted to bring his lawyer.

Investigators are looking at a "good quality video" that shows the train speeding up in the moments leading up to its derailment. They don't know yet what caused the train to accelerate to more than 100 mph. Sumwalt said 65 seconds before the end of the recording, the train speed went above 70 mph, and then steadily increased.

"It just shows the speed alone," Sumwalt said. "It doesn't tell how the speed got there."

'No recollection' of crash
Bostian's lawyer told ABC's "Good Morning America" his client "has absolutely no recollection whatsoever" after losing consciousness in Tuesday night's crash.

"He remembers coming into the curve (and) attempting to reduce speed," attorney Robert Goggin said. "... The last thing he recalls is coming to, looking for his bag, getting his cell phone, turning it on and calling 911."

The engineer can't recall engaging the emergency brake, even though Sumwalt has said he did so "just moments" before the train derailed. Goggin thinks his client's memories may return as he recovers from a concussion. Bostian has 15 staples in his head, stitches in one leg and his other leg immobilized, according to his lawyer.

Goggin insisted his client hadn't been talking or texting on his phone before he made the 911 call. Nor did he have other notable accidents or mishaps. And his lawyer said Bostian voluntarily took a blood test and there was "no drinking, no drugs, no medical conditions. Nothing."

 

[Webster]

Reuters: Philadelphia Train May Have Hit Projectile Prior To Accident

The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia and a separate commuter train in the vicinity may have been hit by projectiles of some kind shortly before the wreck, a U.S. transportation safety official said on Friday, after investigators interviewed members of the Amtrak crew.

But the Amtrak engineer said he had no memory of anything that happened in the moments leading up to the crash when questioned for the first time about Tuesday night's wreck that killed eight people and injured more than 200 others, said Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

An assistant conductor told NTSB investigators on Friday that she heard the engineer, 32-year-old Brandon Bostian, talking by radio with the driver of another train from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The other driver reported that his windshield had been cracked by a projectile that he believed was either fired from a gun or thrown at the train.

According to the conductor's account, Bostian replied that he believed his New York-bound Amtrak train had been similarly struck after pulling out of its previous stop, Sumwalt said.

It was moments later that the Amtrak train barreled into a curve at more than 100 miles per hour (160 km per hour), twice the speed limit, in the city's Port Richmond neighborhood along the Delaware River.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/15/us-usa-train-derailment-idUSKBN0NZ18Z20150515