NTSB says Amtrak engineer not talking, texting before Philly crash

The engineer driving the Amtrak train that derailed May 12 in Philadelphia was neither talking on his phone nor texting in the moments before the crash, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The board is still investigating the causes of the accident, in which eight died and about 200 were injured. But NTSB Vice Chairman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr told a Senate panel Wednesday that investigators had concluded the driver, Brandon Bostian, was not distracted by talking on his phone, texting or downloading data.

But they have not ruled out other phone uses, such as an app, she said. The conclusion only added to the mystery surrounding the crash. Bostian told investigators he remembers nothing after the New York-bound train pulled out of its Philadelphia station stop. The train was traveling 106 mph in an approach with an 80 mph speed limit and then into a curve with a 50 mph limit.

At the hearing, senators sharply questioned Dinh-Zarr about the Dec. 31 deadline for installation of Positive Train Control, a GPS-like system that slows or halts train that are traveling too fast. Despite billions spent on installing the complicated technology, railroad industry executives insist they will not be ready by the end-of-the-year deadline imposed by Congress in 2008.

Daniel Freedman