NTSB report: No equipment issue on Amtrak crash

Donna Leinwand Leger | USA TODAY

A preliminary report released Tuesday by federal crash investigators found no anomalies with the braking system of the train or the signals and track at the site of the May 12 Amtrak derailment that killed eight passengers, and injured 200 other passengers and crew.

The National Transportation Safety Board previously noted the train had been traveling at 106 mph before the emergency brake system engaged. Data from the train's event recorder "indicated that the engineer activated the emergency brakes seconds before the derailment," the report said.

Amtrak train 188 was traveling northbound from Washington, D.C., to New York City on May 12 when it derailed at 9:21 p.m. north of Philadelphia. The seven-car and one-locomotive train had just entered the Frankford Junction curve, where the speed limit is 50 mph.

NTSB said it's examining the Amtrak engineer's cell phone and cell phone records to determine whether the engineer made any calls, texted or sent messages while operating the train.

"Although the records appear to indicate that calls were made, text messages sent, and data used on the day of the accident, investigators have not yet made a determination if there was any phone activity during the time the train was being operated," the report said. "Investigators are in the process of correlating the time stamps in the engineer's cell phone records with multiple data sources including the locomotive event recorder, the locomotive outward facing video, recorded radio communications, and surveillance video."

NTSB is also investigating whether vandals threw rocks or other objects at passing trains around the time of the derailment. The Amtrak 188 locomotive windshield has impact damage, but investigators have not determined whether the damage was from a thrown object or the crash, the report said. NTSB and FBI found no evidence of damage caused by a gun, the report said.

Amtrak estimates the damage from the crash at $9.2 million.

Amtrak has committed to installing an automatic braking system on all trains on its tracks in the Northeast Corridor by a congressional deadline of Dec. 31. But a section north of New York City operated by Metro-North, the rail line says, won't meet that deadline.

Railroads have been upgrading trains and installing electronics for an automated system along the tracks for years. But industry groups have warned since 2010 they will miss this year's deadline for having the system on an estimated 60,000 miles of track carrying passengers or toxic chemicals that can be inhaled.

Congress set the deadline for positive train control after a head-on collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train that killed 25 and injured 100 in Chatsworth, Calif., in September 2008.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) counted about 300 people injured and 10 killed in train accidents each year from 2003 through 2012 — without counting highway-grade crossings or trespassers walking along tracks.