Amtrak train 188 derailed Tuesday night, May 12, at 9:21 p.m. eastern daylight time in Philadelphia killing eight passengers and sending more than 200 others to area hospitals, according to an accident report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Tuesday, June 2.
In the report, the NTSB noted “no anomalies” have been found in the investigation of train braking systems, signals and track geometry.
Christopher A. Hart, chairman of the NTSB, delivered a testimony in Washington, D.C. highlighting the importance of positive train control (PTC), a safety issue included in their Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements for 2015.
Positive train control is a system of functional requirements for monitoring and controlling train movements to provide increased safety, according to Hart’s testimony.
Hart concluded positive train control would have prevented the May 12 accident.
“We run a safe railroad, and safety will continue to be our top priority,” Amtrak Chairman Joseph Boardman said in a press release.
The northbound train departed from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station headed for New York’s Penn Station, according to a detailed report on NTSB’s website.
Liz Willis, senior in communication with a minor in business, had family members traveling to New York on the Amtrak trains before and after the 188 train that derailed.
James Willis, 26, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, boarded an Amtrak train at 8 p.m. to visit his father who works for Ralph Lauren in Manhattan.
James arrived in New York at 2 p.m. the next day.
His brother, Hodges and older sister, Rebecca, boarded a different Amtrak train in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, May 12 at 8 p.m., according to James.
Hodges said they were supposed to meet James in New York.
The train Hodges boarded was two hours behind the Amtrak train 188 that derailed in Philadelphia, according to James.
“I was actually supposed to go meet them at the train station, and I got a phone call from my mom telling me what had happened, and I had forgotten about it, and I showed up at the train station, and there were FBI agents and military guys and police everywhere,” James said. “And the CNN guy was standing there, and I was like ‘What happened?’ I blanked out for a second, it didn’t seem real. He told me what happened and I said, ‘Oh my God.’”
James said they tried to call Hodges, but didn’t get an answer.
According to Hodges, it was his first time on Amtrak.
He said he was in the back of the train car playing cards around late midnight when he heard people saying a crash had happened.
Hodges said they went to bed and that’s when James was trying to call.
“We woke up in the morning, and they kicked us off in D.C.,” Hodges said. “And that’s it, so we hopped into a bus, and going the rest of the way, and we found out everything from the news.”
Hodges finally got in touch with James and the rest of his family to let them know Rebecca and him were OK.
“We were like ‘yeah, we’re fine, there’s nothin’ wrong with our train,’” Hodges said.
He also said he felt everyone else was more worried about the situation than he was in the moment.
“It’s terrible what happened, but at the same time, God definitely had his hand on my family by splitting them up on their way to New York, and you know, for whatever reason, they decided to take separate trains, and it happened to be the one right in the middle that had the accident,” Liz said.
Hodges said the Willis family has not received a statement from Amtrak regarding the crash.
They were given a number to call to get their money back, but have not heard back.
The damage estimated by Amtrak in excess of $9.2 million, according to the report.
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