I look forward to the complete report from the NTSB about the train derailment in Philadelphia. I appreciate their update and throughness. I hope the passengers are recovering. It was an absolutely violent derailment and no one expects anyone to be okay after such an experience.


May 14, 2015
By Mark Abrams

 
...National Transportation Safety Board (click here to watch video) member Robert Sumwalt, who is leading the investigation, says in the wake of preliminary information that the train was running in excess of 100 miles an hour going into a curve, more data has been revealed in an on-board camera from the front of the engine. Sumwalt says it captured the final fateful minutes before the engine and its seven cars went tumbling off the tracks.

“Thirty-one seconds before the end of the recording, the train speed was going through 90 miles per hour. Sixteen seconds before the end of the recording, the train speed was going through 100 miles per hour,” said Sumwalt.
Sumwalt said the train increased its speed by 30 miles per hour in 49 seconds. The train peaked at 106 miles per hour and was clocked at 102 miles per hour when it crashed.

Sumwalt wouldn’t say who or what was causing the train to accelerate, even though the speed at that area was only 50 miles per hour.
“We always look at distraction. We always look at potential for fatigue,” Sumwalt said....