Feds order speed control technology on all Northeast Amtrak trains

The Federal Railroad Administration on Saturday ordered Amtrak to take immediate steps to employ new speed control technology throughout the Northeast Corridor in the wake of the recent devastating derailment in Philadelphia.

The FRA outlined the orders to Amtrak on Facebook and said it would formalize its action in an Emergency Order.

The orders call on Amtrak immediately to employ Automatic Train Control technology, now in use on southbound trains in the Northeast Corridor, on all northbound trains as well.

The ATC technology can detect when a train is traveling above the speed limit and will alert the engineer and apply brakes automatically if the engineer fails to act.

The orders further call for analyzing all curves on the corridor to assess risk and to implement "appropriate technology" in areas where the approach speed for a train is significantly higher than the curve speed.

In addition, the FRA said Amtrak must increase the amount and frequency of signage along the track to alert engineers and conductors to the maximum authorized speech throughout the heavy traveled corridor.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said he was issuing the orders even though a full assessment of the derailment was not yet complete.

"The actions we have instructed Amtrak to take are aimed at improving safety on this corridor immediately, but we won't hesitate to require the railroad to do more to improve safety as the accident's causes become clearer," Foxx said.

In last week's crash, a seven-car Washington-to-New York Amtrak train jumped the tracks after it inexplicably accelerated from 70 mph to 106 mph as it approached a 50-mph curve at Frankford Junction several minutes after leaving Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, killing eight people and injuring more than 200.

The FBI has been asked to examine the Amtrak locomotive in question after reports that its windshield may have been broken by an unknown object shortly after a similar report from a commuter train ahead, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

An assistant Amtrak conductor told investigators she recalled hearing a commuter rail engineer tell the dispatch center that his windshield had broken — "either been hit by a rock or shot at" — and that the train had made an emergency stop, NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said at the agency's final news briefing.

The unidentified conductor, who was in the cafe car of Train 188, also believes she heard Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian "say something about his train being struck by something," Sumwalt said.

Investigators have "seen damage to the left-hand lower portion of the Amtrak windshield," he said, describing the damage as being a "circular" pattern that radiated out.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority commuter train made an emergency stop. The NTSB has video from the train's outward-facing camera and will review radio transmissions, Sumwalt said.

SEPTA spokesman Jerri Williams said his agency had not yet determined what damaged the commuter train.

Bostian, who suffered a concussion and other injuries, was "extremely cooperative" during a 90-minute interview with investigators earlier Friday, but he cannot recall the crash, Sumwalt said.

The 32-year-old engineer, from Queens, N.Y., told investigators he does not remember anything that happened after his train passed the North Philadelphia station.

He said he wasn't sick or tired, and he didn't recall any problems with the train's handling before the accident, Sumwalt said.