NTSB Releases Documents Related To Fatal Philadelphia Amtrak Derailment

While the National Transportation Safety Board today released reams of documents related to the May 12 derailment of an Amtrak train outside of Philadelphia, the cause of the derailment, which claimed eight lives, is still unknown. An NTSB official said the information "provide[s] backup documentations on facts already released. There may be some new facts included in these but nothing that's really earth shattering or smoking guns."

However, "issues with the locomotive, track or train signals" have been eliminated as factors.

The train, carrying 243 people (238 passengers and five crew members), was headed from Washington D.C. to New York City when it derailed at the Frankford Junction's sharp curve. In addition to the fatalities, dozens of people were injured.

Aerial view of the derailment (Getty Images)

Shortly after the crash, a lawyer for the engineer, Brandon Bostian, said he didn't remember anything—a point reiterated by the documents. From Philly.com:

Unfortunately, the last memory I have on the way back is approaching and passing the platforms in North Philadelphia," the engineer, Brandon Bostian, told investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board days after a wreck that killed eight and injured more than 200. "I remember turning on the bell, and the next thing that I remember is when I came to my senses I was standing up in the locomotive cab after the accident."

The interview was released Monday as part of a trove of documents made public for the first time. The train had been going 106 mph as it approached a curve where the limit was 50 mph.

"I got my cellphone out of my bag. I turned it on," Bostian said. "When it came on, while it was powering up, I think I got off the engine."

He said he dialed 911, "and at the time I did not know" my location.

Aerial view of the derailment (Getty Images)

An assistant conductor had said that Bostian told another engineer that the train had been hit with something.

Bostian only had "sporadic" experience with the train he was driving that night; he told investigators, "There are a lot of ways the training could have been better, but I feel fully qualified to operate trains."

Philly.com adds, "For months, fellow engineers and some in Congress have speculated that Bostian simply lost track of where he was and accelerated, thinking he was already beyond the curve. Amtrak does not use the kind of GPS systems - common now in cellphone apps and cars - that can show users where they are. So engineers instead memorize their routes, speed limits and other rules, with help from signals in the locomotive cab and on the side of the track."