7 killed, 200+ injured in Philadelphia.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Authorities haven’t definitively revealed what caused the derailment of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. But according to CNN, the National Transportation Safety Board has said that preliminary data show the train’s speed exceeded 100 mph before it escaped the constraints of the railway’s tracks.
The advised speed for the curve it was in was 50 mph. Even if it’s determined the train was going too fast, it could be due to the engineer or a mechanical issue, such as faulty brakes. The recorder, or “black box,” discovered at the scene could be pivotal by showing just that, former NTSB official John Goglia told CNN.
Seven people were killed and more than 200 people were injured in the wreck that plunged passengers into darkness and chaos without warning.
The train was en route from Washington to New York with 238 passengers and five crew members listed on its manifest when it flew off the tracks at a notorious curve not far from the scene of one of the nation’s deadliest train wrecks more than 70 years ago, reported WCVB of Boston.
Earlier this year, the American Bazaar reported on the death of Indian American Aditya Tomar, who was among the six people killed in the Metro-North Railroad accident in New York’s Westchester county earlier this year.
As of last week, Tomar’s wife has filed a $25 million notice to sue Metro-North Railroad, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state of New York, the county of Westchester, and the town of Mt. Pleasant.
Reshma Persaud’s lawyer informed the News-Times the railroad recognized the dangers of the track crossing in Valhalla, N.Y. but did not make improvements.
Tomar, 41, was a resident Danbury, Connecticut, and immigrated to the U.S. from India to pursue his education and a career in the financial industry. He was a vice president at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.