Amtrak Train Was Not Shot At Before Fatal Derailment: FBI

The FBI has ruled out the possibility that the Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia was struck by a firearm just before last week’s fatal crash.

But officials investigating the derailment said Monday they have not ruled out the possibility that another object hit the windshield, causing the train to crash, killing eight.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday said the FBI, which was asked to investigate damage to the left portion of the train’s windshield, found no evidence the train was shot at by a firearm before it accelerated ahead of a curve.

In addition to eight fatalities, more than 200 were injured in the crash, which happened May 12.

NTSB announced probable cause of the accident will be determined at the conclusion of its investigation, would could take as long as a year.

An assistant Amtrak conductor told investigators said she recalled hearing a commuter rail engineer tell the dispatch center that his windshield had “either been hit by a rock or shot at,” Robert Sumwalt of the NTSB said Friday. She said she thought she heard Bostian say that his train had also been struck.

The engineer, Brandon Bostian, told investigators he doesn’t remember what happened leading up to the crash. Officials from the NTSB are investigating the crash.

Preliminary investigations by the NTSB have shown the train was travelling at more than 100 miles per hour when it hit the curve, which has a posted speed limit of 50 mph.

As the investigation determines what kind of human errors were involved in the tragic crash, experts agree that existing safety technology could have prevented the tragedy, but was not installed in that section of the rail, according to CNN.

A system known as “Positive Train Control” keeps track of train speed via GPS, wireless radio and other technology. If a train is not operating by federal guidelines, the system can automatically slow or stop it, according to the report.

In a statement posted to Amtrak’s blog, Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman said the train service will finish upgrading the Northeast Corridor with Positive Rail Control by the end of the year.

“Our goal is to fully understand what happened and how we can prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in the future,” said Boardman. “We will also continue to focus on completing Positive Train Control implementation in the Northeast Corridor by December of 2015.”

Photo courtesy of NTSB

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