Long before Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 jumped the rails at excessive speed, engineer Brandon Bostian apparently was an online advocate to prevent this kind of calamity — technology to slow a dangerously fast train when an engineer does not.
“They have had nearly a hundred years of opportunity to implement SOME sort of system to mitigate human error,” one post read. “But with a few notable exceptions (the rail industry) has failed to do so.”
This message was one of several in recent years appearing to be written by Bostian on TrainOrders.com, which describes itself as a “railfan site” with photos, multimedia, chat and discussion forums. In one of the posts with the same “author” name, he writes out his name in full; in another, he uses his first initial. In one more, he describes himself as a student in Missouri originally from Memphis, which was true at the time.
The posts shed light on one of the most pivotal people in Tuesday night’s crash in Philadelphia, which killed eight people and sent more than 200 more to local hospitals. Twenty-five people were still being treated at five hospitals midday Friday, including eight in critical condition, according to hospital spokespeople.
He, above all people, should know best how and why the train was going 106 mph around a curve with a 50-mph speed limit, as the National Transportation Safety Board says. He should be able to explain best why the train was going more than 70 mph some 65 seconds before the crash — as video shows, according to NTSB member Robert Sumwalt — and then continued to accelerate.
Unfortunately, Bostian can’t help much right now, according to his attorney. That’s because he suffered a concussion, among other injuries, when his engine car repeatedly tumbled and “has absolutely no recollection of the events,” the lawyer, Robert Goggin, told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Investigators are considering all possibilities Friday, including speed, track conditions and human error, as they try to figure out what happened. One thing Sumwalt has said already is that there would have been no derailment if technology known as positive train control had been in place on the fateful override track to overrule an errant, oblivious or incapacitated engineer.
Sumwalt has been seconded by rail experts, insiders and aficionados. Bostian himself apparently was an advocate of such an approach before the crash.
A 2011 post mentions how the NTSB decades ago put positive train control on its “most wanted” list of rail upgrades, then lamented that it took Congress to pass a law mandating the change by the end of 2015. Bostian apparently wrote that railroads have had many tools available for decades to curb crashes such as the one in Southern California involving a freight train and a Metrolink commuter train that killed 25 people in 2008.
“It shouldn’t take an act of Congress to get (the rail) industry to adopt common-sense safety systems on their own,” one message states.
Debate over Amtrak technology, funding
Many concur it is a shame positive train control wasn’t installed already in places such as Frankford Junction, the curve in the track where this week’s train crash happened. That includes Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman.
“Had it been installed, it would have been prevented this accident,” the Amtrak chief told CNN’s Rene Marsh. “That’s what I’ve been saying for a long period of time.”
And it’s going to happen, at least, on Amtrak’s busy Northeast Corridor — which includes rails around Philadelphia — by December 31, Boardman pledged.
Even after then, questions remain about why it’s taken so long and what other infrastructure or technological improvements aren’t happening.
Boardman said Amtrak and other transportation infrastructure nationally are significantly underfunded. This problem leaves agencies with tough questions about which safety upgrades to implement and which ones not to, with potentially dangerous implications.
There’s no guarantee that more funding is coming.
On Wednesday, the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted to reduce grants to Amtrak by $252 million, a drop of about 15% from last year’s level.
The move doesn’t mean such a cut will become reality. But it certainly doesn’t bode well for those — such as Boardman and President Barack Obama — who have called for more spending to repair decaying infrastructure in the wake of the latest crash.
Amtrak may have more financial headaches besides the need for technology and infrastructure upgrades.
That’s due to legal action such as a lawsuit filed by Amtrak dispatcher Bruce Phillips, who his attorney says suffered brain trauma in the crash.
Laws limit the total amount of damages that can be paid out to $200 million per train accident. In a big crash with many claims, it doesn’t amount to much per injured plaintiff.
Friend: ‘I really believe something happened’ to engineer
As much as Amtrak has questions to answer, so does Bostian.
The 32-year-old train engineer has had a reputation as a transportation buff since high school when he wrote about rail travel for his school newspaper. One of the online posts linked to him suggests he was working on a short-line railroad when he was 20 or 21.
His LinkedIn profile says he joined Amtrak as a conductor after graduating from the University of Missouri in 2006. He became an engineer about 4½ years later.
His attorney, Goggin, insisted Bostian wasn’t drunk, drugged or distracted by his cell phone Tuesday night. Nor has he had mishaps or major issues on the job, Goggin said.
“He was very thorough always when it came to work (and) he was on point,” said friend Xavier Bishop, who lost his job with Amtrak due to absenteeism issues. “He knew what he needed to know and if he wasn’t sure about it … he was going to call and make sure that he got the proper information.”
Still, the engineer’s seemingly stellar past hasn’t stopped people from pointing fingers at him — starting with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
Nutter called Bostian’s driving “clearly … reckless,” telling CNN, “There’s no way in the world he should have been going that fast into the curve.”
The mayor said, “I don’t know what was going on in the cab. But there’s really no excuse that can be offered, literally, unless he had a heart attack.”
Bostian’s attorney said his client has told investigators, in their initial interactions, “everything he knew.” The problem is that he doesn’t remember much from the time of the crash, according to Goggin.
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta said the crash could have caused post-traumatic amnesia in which a person forgets parts of what happened before and after an injury.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said it’s not in Bostian’s interest to speak to investigators too soon.
“Any criminal lawyer would advise this guy not to talk to the authorities until at least he sees a lot of what else the evidence is,” Toobin said.
Bishop, who “went up and down those rails with Brandon hundreds of times,” is among those befuddled by the crash, saying, “I really believe something happened to prior to him getting to that curve. We all know what the speed limits are; it’s not a mystery us.”
So why does he think Train 188 was going so fast?
As Bishop says, “That’s the $1 million question.”
