The engineer from the Philadelphia Amtrak train that derailed Tuesday night and left seven dead and more than 140 hospitalized declined to give a statement to authorities, said police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, adding that he left with an attorney.
This revelation comes amidst news that the train may have been speeding at more than 100 mph before the fatal crash at a curve in the tracks. The speed limit around the curve was 50 mph, with 70 mph in the lead-up to it. Information about the train’s speed is reportedly coming from black boxes recovered Wednesday morning, which may also contain other information about the moments before the derailment. The train’s conductor is reportedly hospitalized with a skull fracture. The conductor and engineer have not been named.
At a press conference Wednesday morning, transportation authorities said they were reviewing all possible reasons for the incident, and were looking at the track, signals, the train’s mechanical condition, and human performance, among other possibilities.
An AP analysis of a surveillance video from just before the crash site seems to show the train traveling at 107 mph, and passing the camera in just over five seconds. The wire service reports that “the surveillance video inexplicably plays back slightly slower than in real time.” Read more at Philly.com.
{CB Frommer-Matzav.com Newscenter}
