USA-TRAIN/DERAILMENT-NEWSER Federal investigators launch wide-ranging probe of Philadelphia train derailment

Record ID: 134604

  • Title: USA-TRAIN/DERAILMENT-NEWSER Federal investigators launch wide-ranging probe of Philadelphia train derailment
  • Date: 13th May 2015
  • Summary: PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (MAY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF DERAILED TRAIN ON TRACK
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1M540PZ14VF1J1P4I87FL2B73
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: NOTE: PHILADELPHIA MAYOR NUTTER LATER CLARIFIED THAT THE ENGINEER (NOT CONDUCTOR, AS SAID IN SOUNDBITE 6) WAS INJURED AND ABLE TO GIVE A STATEMENT TO POLICE
    Rescue workers on Wednesday (May 13) sifted through twisted metal and other debris from the wreck of an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia, killing at least six people and injuring scores of others, while investigators reviewed data to determine the cause of an accident.
    Authorities said they did not know why the New York City-bound train carrying 243 people jumped the track at about 9:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday (0130 GMT Wednesday). One of the seven cars landed upside down and three were tossed on their sides, while passengers and luggage were sent flying, survivors said.
    Philadelphia-area hospitals and health systems reported treating more than 200 people, a city emergency official said. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said authorities had not yet accounted for everyone aboard the train. He confirmed six people were confirmed dead.
    Officials of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had recovered recorders, or black boxes, from the train and were analyzing data, Robert Sumwalt, a NTSB member, said at the news conference.
    "We are looking at track, the train signals the operation of the train, the mechanical condition of the train, human performance, we are setting up a multidisciplinary investigation to try and understand the factors that led to this accident," Sumwalt told reporters.
    Aerial images of the derailment site showed mangled debris tuned on its side laying on the track. Heavy equipment was brought to the scene to eventually lift the wreckage, once it is determined there are no more people trapped inside.
    The crash of Amtrak train No. 188, en route from Washington, D.C. with a crew of five, was the latest in a series of rail accidents on heavily traveled passenger train routes over the past year.
    The train derailed in the city's Port Richmond neighborhood along the Delaware River, near the site of a 1943 rail accident that killed 79 people.
    Amtrak, a publicly funded national passenger rail line, said Amtrak service along its busy Northeast corridor between New York and Philadelphia had been suspended indefinitely.
    The crash and the issue of Amtrak funding are likely to come before Congress later Wednesday, when the House Appropriations Committee meets to discuss the transportation budget for the next fiscal year.
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