Amtrak to Install Cab Cameras After Philly Crash

Amtrak will be installing video cameras to monitor engineers in response to a fatal train derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight people earlier this month.

The rail service announced Tuesday that it will install video cameras in the locomotive cabs of trains on certain heavily traveled routes in the northeastern part of the country.

The cameras will be installed in 70 locomotives that service the Washington-to-Boston northeast corridor, as well as service between New York, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Reuters reported.

The cameras will be installed by the end of 2015, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Investigators looking into the deadly crash are still trying to piece together what happened just before the train derailed that night.

So far, investigators believe the train was traveling 106 mph going into the Port Richmond turn, which has a 50 mph speed limit, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The engineer applied the brakes three seconds before the derailment, according to the NTSB.

The NTSB said it will be delving deep into the engineer’s cell phone records to determine if the device was in use at the time of the fatal accident.

Officials said they have engineer Brandon Bostian’s cell phone as well as his call and text records in their possession but have not determined if he was using it at the time of the accident. NTSB forensic experts will be analyzing the data, officials said.

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.

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.

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