Federal investigators have determined that the Amtrak train that crashed Tuesday night and killed seven people aboard had been traveling at 106 mph into a 50 mph curve that was not equipped with a widespread safety program to limit train speeds, and which a key federal safety official said Wednesday likely would have prevented the crash.
Indeed, several recent federal watchdog reports have criticized Amtrak both for delays in implementing the Positive Train Control program and for struggling to rein in drug abuse among its employees, a possible factor in the Philadelphia crash, though causes remained uncertain Wednesday.
The engineer in charge of the train, whom Amtrak officials did not name but was later identified by CNN and ABC as Brandon Bostian, was accompanied by a lawyer at a Philadelphia police station Wednesday. He declined to make a statement to law enforcement.
According to Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, the engineer applied the emergency brakes before the crash, but the train was still traveling at 102 mph when its black box stopped recording data. He said that even the stretch of track ahead of the derailment site had a speed limit of just 80 mph.
“We are heartbroken by what has happened here,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who also seemingly blamed Mr. Bostian for the accident, by position if not name.
“There’s no way in the world that he should have been going that fast into the curve,” he told CNN. “Clearly he was reckless and irresponsible in his actions. I don’t know what was going on with him, I don’t know what was going on in the cab, but there’s really no excuse that could be offered.”
SEE ALSO: Brandon Bostian identified as Amtrak engineer in Philadelphia derailment
At least three of the deceased were identified by early Wednesday evening: Justin Zemser, a 20-year-old U.S. Naval Academy midshipman from New York City; Jim Gaines, a 48-year-old Associated Press video software architect; and Abid Gilani, a senior vice president in the Hospitality Finance Group for Wells Fargo in New York City.
Stretch lacked safety program
The train was en route from Washington’s Union Station to New York’s Penn Station with 238 passengers and five crew members listed aboard when it lurched to the side and flew off the tracks in an old industrial neighborhood known as Frankford Junction not far from the Delaware River shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Though most of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington — by far Amtrak’s most popular and profitable route — is equipped with Positive Train Control (PTC), the Frankford Junction stretch did not, despite pressure from Congress and safety regulators.
PTC uses GPS systems, wireless radio and computers to prevent trains from going over the speed limit, the railroad agency said.
“Based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred,” Mr. Sumwalt said.
SEE ALSO: Safety technology might have prevented deadly Amtrak crash
Recent inspector general reports reveal that Amtrak has fallen behind on major safety programs like PTC, which can automatically slow down or stop trains to prevent collisions and derailments.
In an December 2012 report, investigators from Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General wrote that they had serious concerns about Amtrak’s ability to fully implement PTC by Congress’ end-of-2015 deadline in a cost-effective manner.
“Amtrak cannot rely on the federal government to provide extra funds at the last minute for implementation; therefore, it needs to request and budget these funds properly, based on up-to-date and accurate estimates of the costs of implementation over the next 3 years,” the report reads.
Congressional hearing
The crash and lingering questions over the railroad’s safety will come up at a congressional hearing next week.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, already had planned a hearing next week on high-speed rail, where issues related to Amtrak safety are now likely to surface.
“Nearly 30 million people ride Amtrak each year, and they should board the trains knowing that safety is a paramount priority. Rail safety is something we take very seriously, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of what went wrong so that we can work toward ensuring it never happens again,” Mr. Chaffetz said.
Hospitals treated more than 200 people for injuries that included burns and broken bones. At least 10 were still hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Nutter said some people remained unaccounted for, though he cautioned that some passengers listed on the Amtrak manifest might not have boarded the train, while others might not have checked in with authorities.
“We will not cease our efforts until we go through every vehicle,” Mr. Nutter said Wednesday afternoon. He said rescuers expanded the search area and used dogs to look for victims in case someone was thrown from the wreckage.
The accident site is a notorious curve not far from the scene of one of the nation’s deadliest train wrecks more than 70 years ago. The 1943 derailment of the Congressional Limited, also traveling from Washington to New York, killed 79 people.
Amtrak carries 11.6 million passengers a year along its busy Northeast Corridor, which runs between Washington and Boston. The Philadelphia-to-New York section remained closed Wednesday evening.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, the fatal stretch of track had been inspected earlier Tuesday, and no defects were found.
President Obama said in a statement that he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the crash, and Mr. Nutter said he spoke by phone with the president and that Mr. Obama “pledged the full support of the federal government and all the agencies under the executive branch of the government.”
Amtrak drug-use problems
Safety and speed are longstanding issues with the nation’s largest passenger rail.
Separately from the PTC woes, a Sept. 2012 report by Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General also found that Amtrak was not doing enough to stem rising drug and alcohol use by its employees in “safety-sensitive positions.”
Investigators found that Amtrak employees were testing positive for drugs and alcohol more frequently than their peers in the railroad industry, and that the rate of employees testing positively had gradually increased since 2006.
The majority of Amtrak’s positive drug tests were for cocaine and marijuana. As of 2011, Amtrak had a combined positive test rate that was 51 percent above rail industry average, according to the report.
“Amtrak is not exercising due diligence to control the use of drugs and alcohol by these employees. Until we presented Amtrak’s key senior management with our preliminary results, they were unaware of the extent of drug and alcohol use by these employees,” the report reads. “Further, senior management is not actively engaged in the program, nor have they demonstrated that controlling drugs and alcohol is a clear priority at Amtrak, thereby making it difficult to manage the risk that drug and alcohol use poses to its employees, passengers, and the public.”
The National Transportation Safety Board has included recommendations to eliminate substance abuse and implement PTC in its annual “most wanted” advocacy priorities every year since at least 2011 — as far back as its online archives go.
Richard Healing, former NTSB chairman, said that the board was urging implementation of PTC back in the 1990s “because there were accidents that could have been prevented with this technology.”
Congressional football
Former Trains magazine columnist Don Phillips said that while Congress set an unreasonable deadline to implement PTC, Amtrak is also at fault for trying to operate at full speed anyway.
“If it turns out the budget cuts might have had something to do with the derailment, then you have two groups at fault — one is Congress and the other is Amtrak itself. If you can’t run your railroad properly, then you have to slow it down,” Mr. Phillips said. “It’s just too early right now to say anything about this particular wreck. I have a feeling it won’t make any difference to Congress or other people that have any say over Amtrak. They will probably cut the budget and continue to go about business.”
The politics of the crash and transportation safety also quickly went into full swing on Capitol Hill, with Democrats haranguing Republicans on the House Committee on Appropriations for voting for a fiscal 2016 spending bill that included $1.14 billion for Amtrak — $251 million less than the 2015 level and $1.31 billion less than what Mr. Obama had requested.
“Yesterday’s tragedy in Philadelphia should be a wake-up call to this committee. We must provide sufficient funding for Amtrak’s critical infrastructure projects to ensure a safer transportation system,” said Rep. David E. Price, North Carolina Democrat. “The majority’s shortsighted, draconian budget cuts stand in the way of the investments that a great country must make.”
According to Politico, Rep. Michael K. Simpson, Idaho Republican, for his part admonished Democrats for trying to tie Tuesday’s crash to the spending debate “when you have no idea, no idea what caused this accident . Don’t use this tragedy in that way. It was beneath you.”
• Dave Boyer contributed to this article, which was based in part on wire service reports.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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