PHILADELPHIA — In the moment the Amtrak train that derailed at a curve this week was supposed to be slowing down, it was accelerating, investigators said Thursday.
How that came to happen has emerged as the central question surrounding the derailment, which killed eight people and sent more than 200 to hospitals Tuesday night in the nation’s deadliest train wreck in nearly six years.
In the minute or so before the crash, the train sped up from 70 mph to more than 100 mph at a sharp bend where the maximum speed is supposed to be 50 mph, said National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt.
It’s unclear, Sumwalt said, whether the speed was increased manually by engineer Brandon Bostian.
Investigators have found no problems with the track, signals or locomotive. Sumwalt said the train, on a route from Washington to New York City, was on time as it left the station in Philadelphia a few minutes before the crash.
Investigators want to know why the train was going so fast. But Bostian refused to talk to police on Wednesday, authorities said. On Thursday, Sumwalt said Bostian had agreed to be interviewed by the NTSB and the meeting will take place in the next few days.
Separately, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office said it was investigating and will decide whether to bring charges.
An Amtrak dispatcher injured in the crash filed what’s apparently the first lawsuit stemming from it, seeking at least $150,000 in damages, his attorney said.
Amtrak, in a statement posted online by CEO Joseph Boardman, called the derailment “a terrible tragedy” and said it was cooperating fully with the NTSB.
“Amtrak takes full responsibility and deeply apologizes for our role in this tragic event,” it said.
Bostian’s attorney, Robert Goggin, told ABC News that his client suffered a concussion in the wreck, needed 15 staples in his head and has “absolutely no recollection” of the crash. Goggin also said Bostian, who lives in New York, had not been using his cellphone, drinking or using drugs.
Bostian was obsessed with trains while growing up, talked about them and wanted to be an engineer or a conductor, friends said.
Bostian graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s in business administration and management in 2006.
He became an Amtrak engineer in 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile.
On an online forum for train enthusiasts called , a user who signed at least two posts “Brandon Bostian” or “Brandon” commented on a wide range of industry issues, including safety. It’s unclear whether the author of the posts was Bostian.
