Thursday, May 21, 2015

Amtrak Deadly rain Crash Probe Looks at Engineer’s Cellphone Use. Not clear yet if Brandon Bostian used phone while operating train





















Updated May 20, 2015

Federal safety investigators said Wednesday they are examining cellphone records, a locomotive event recorder, surveillance video and other data to determine whether the engineer involved in a fatal Amtrak derailment earlier this month in Philadelphia was using his phone while operating the train.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it had obtained engineer Brandon Bostian’s cellphone records through a subpoena and determined he had made calls and texted with his phone the day of the May 12 crash that left eight dead and more than 200 injured. 

It wasn’t yet clear, however, if Mr. Bostian was using his phone while he was at the controls of Northeast Regional Train 188 —traveling at more than twice the posted 50-mile-an-hour speed limit—when it derailed at a tight curve, the agency said. The train was heading north to New York from Washington, carrying 243 passengers and crew.

The NTSB didn’t say when it would announce further results of its inquiry.
Mr. Bostian’s attorney, Robert Goggin, didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Mr. Goggin has said Mr. Bostian’s cellphone was stowed away while the 32-year-old was operating the train that day and he hadn’t taken drugs or alcohol.

Mr. Bostian, whose lawyer said he suffered head injuries in the wreck, has told investigators he doesn’t remember the events immediately before the derailment or the accident, which occurred at about 9:30 p.m. 

NTSB member Robert Sumwalt has said that according to data downloaded from the train’s “black box” event recorder, the train was traveling 106 miles an hour in a 50 m.p.h. zone when Mr. Bostian, applied an emergency brake. The locomotive and seven passenger cars slowed to 102 m.p.h. before jumping the tracks, the data showed. 

The agency hasn’t offered an explanation as to why the train was traveling so fast at the time.

Mr. Sumwalt previously said the agency was investigating the possibility that a projectile had struck the train, but the NTSB said later that tapes of communications show Mr. Bostian didn’t tell dispatchers that any object hit the train.

On Wednesday, the NTSB said that its examination of signal systems found no malfunctions or anomalies.

The agency also said the engineer of a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority commuter train who was interviewed by investigators said he saw the Amtrak train pass before the derailment and didn’t notice anything unusual.

Mr. Bostian started as an Amtrak conductor in 2006 and became an engineer in 2010, according to a profile on LinkedIn.

Records provided by Amtrak show that he had been operating trains in the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston for about three years. He had been assigned to the Washington to New York route for several weeks before the accident, the agency said.