Engineer in Fatal Amtrak Crash Has “Dream-Like…Foggy Memory”

“The last memory I have on the way back is approaching and passing the platforms in North Philadelphia”.

“I remember turning on the bell, and the next thing that I remember is when I came to my senses I was standing up in the locomotive cab after the accident”, Bostian continued.

Today federal investigators will release more than 2,000 pages of documents into a deadly Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.

With the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigative phase into the May 12, 2015 crash now complete, investigators will analyze the evidence, prepare a report on the probable cause of the derailment and make safety recommendations.

An assistant conductor had said that Bostian told another engineer that the train had been hit with something.

Meanwhile, Amtrak officials are investigating after an unknown object hit an Acela Express train near Bridesburg, Pennsylvania and cracked a window on Sunday evening. That means some other projectile was at fault.

The train’s data recorder shows that at about 55 seconds and a mile and a half before the derailment, Bostian applied full throttle and held it there for about 30 seconds.

Bostian has been suspended without pay since the crash, for speeding.

“I got my cellphone out of my bag”. I turned it on.

Congress had been pressing the safety board for answers to the key question of whether engineer Brandon Bostian was using his phone.

When he realized the train was about to derail, Bostian recalled, he held the controls tightly and thought, “Well, this is it, I’m going over”. “And he just looked at me and he said, ‘I don’t know'”. The train originated in Washington, D.C. and arrived at its final destination in New York City shortly after 8 p.m.

Investigators have already released substantial information about the crash of Amtrak Train 188 – including data showing that the train was zooming at 106 miles per hour, twice the speed limit, before taking a curve at Frankford Junction, where trains are supposed to travel at 50 miles per hour, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Brandon Bostian, in his initial interview to investigators after the accident, said he did not remember the crash.

Bostian suffered a possible concussion and had other minor injuries. Bostian’s blood and urine were tested after the crash, but nothing illegal was detected. An Amtrak dispatcher told NTSB investigators he was focused on the commuter train because the locomotive’s windshield was blown out and the engineer needed medical attention.

The Washington-New York corridor is the busiest stretch for Amtrak nationwide. But they have not ruled out that the train was struck by something else.

This version corrects the spelling of Frankford Junction. “In response to that feeling, I put the train brake on”.

Philadelphia lawyers who filed lawsuits against Amtrak contend there are “glaring inconsistencies” in the statements the locomotive engineer gave to railroad accident investigators. An automatic braking system had been installed on the southbound side of the tracks – but not on the northbound side, where the crash occurred.