Object may have struck Amtrak train before derailment, conductor says

New information in the case of the Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia earlier this week now suggests that an object may have hit the locomotive before it went off the tracks.

CNN noted that Robert Sumwalt from the National Transportation Safety Board said one conductor told investigators she heard engineer Brandon Bostian say the train had been struck by something. She said she overheard the information communicated through radio transmissions between Bostian and a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority engineer.

"She recalled that the SEPTA engineer had reported to the train dispatcher that he had either been hit by a rock or shot at, and the SEPTA engineer said that he had a broken windshield, and he placed his train into emergency stop," Sumwalt said. "She also believed that she heard (the Amtrak) engineer say something about his train being struck by something."

As previously reported, the Amtrak train derailed Tuesday night at the Frankford Junction in Philadelphia. The crash killed eight people and injured 200 others. The train’s data recorder revealed that it was traveling more than double the speed limit.

An attorney for Bostian said that his client does not remember the actual crash.

The investigation is ongoing.

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