Investigators examining last month’s fatal crash of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia now believe they know whether the engineer was using his phone when the derailment happened, a source with knowledge of the probe said Wednesday.
The source didn’t reveal the National Transportation Safety Board investigators’ conclusions. But the NTSB is expected to make an announcement about the crash at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday.
Amtrak Northeast Regional Train No. 188 derailed minutes after it left a Philadelphia station on the night of May 12, leaving eight people dead and more than 200 injured.
The New York-bound train had just entered a curve at 106 mph, through the curve had a speed limit of 50 mph. The engineer applied emergency brakes as it entered the curve, but the locomotive and all seven passenger cars derailed, the NTSB said in its preliminary report.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. The engineer, Brandon Bostian, has told investigators he does not recall anything that happened right before the crash.
In the preliminary report the NTSB released last week, investigators said forensic experts were examining Bostian’s phone and the phone records. The report said investigators had yet to determine if there was any phone activity during time the train was being operated.
Investigators have been frustrated by the lack of clarity about what went on inside the cab of the train that crashed. Currently, Amtrak trains have cameras facing outward, along with a so-called black box, or data recorder that measures locomotive and engineer actions.
Amtrak announced in late May that it would begin installing inward facing cameras
On the week of the accident, NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said Bostian could not remember anything beyond pulling the whistle as he drove past the North Philadelphia station, three miles earlier.