Officials: Amtrak train sped up before derailing

by Jesse Byrnes - 05/14/15 7:03 PM ET

The Amtrak train involved in this week’s deadly derailment sped up for about a minute before leaving the tracks near Pennsylvania, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday evening.

Robert Sumwalt said footage from a camera mounted near the front of the train showed it had sped up from 70 miles per hour to more than 100 miles per hour before derailing at a curve.

The train was in a 50 mph section, The Associated Press notes, and Sumwalt said conductors have a timetable and should know the speed limits of particular sections of track.

{mosads}Investigators plan to interview engineer Brandon Bostian, who also suffered injuries, in the next few days. He is allowed to bring along another individual, Sumwalt said, presumably his lawyer.

“We very much look forward to the opportunity to interview him,” Sumwalt said of the engineer.

Bostian’s lawyer, Robert Goggin, said earlier in the day Thursday that the man behind the controls had “no recollection” of the crash that left at least eight dead and injured more than 200.

“He remembers coming into the curve, he remembers attempting to reduce thereafter,” the lawyer said on ABC News. “He does not remember deploying the emergency brake.”

Sumwalt said Thursday evening he was confident that an automated system to control speeds, known as positive train control, “would have prevented this accident.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have called for increased infrastructure spending following the crash. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said it was “stupid” to link spending to the incident, given investigators still don’t know what caused the crash. President Obama acknowledged both views Thursday.

–Ben Kamisar contributed.

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