Transportation security

‘Distraction to disaster’: Deadly Amtrak crash caused by preoccupied engineer

The deadly Amtrak crash that killed eight people and injured hundreds in Philadelphia last year came about because the train’s engineer became distracted by incoming radio calls, federal investigators said on Tuesday.

Train engineer Brandon Bostian said that he didn’t realize where his train was when he became distracted by a radio report stating that another locomotive’s windshield had been shattered by a rock, according to federal investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board.

As a result, Bostian lost track of his location and said he sped up to 106 miles per hour – far above the maximum of 50 miles per hour needed to safely pass through the curve on that part of the track.