From: democrats@fail.us   
      
   XPost: pa.politics, sac.politics, alt.politics.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.transportation.trains.driving.high-on-cocaine   
      
   PHILADELPHIA — The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on   
   Tuesday night was traveling at a speed of at least 100 miles an   
   hour or twice the speed limit in that part of the corridor,   
   according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.   
      
   The speed of the train was recorded in the so-called black box   
   data recorders that were recovered from the wreckage, while   
   emergency crews searched for more survivors and victims of a   
   crash that killed at least seven people and injured more than   
   200.   
      
   The recorders were taken to Amtrak’s operations center in   
   Delaware to download information like the train’s speed, images   
   from a video camera on the engine and a log of when the train’s   
   operator used tools like the brake, throttle and horn, officials   
   said at a news conference.   
      
   Passengers who emerged battered and bloodied described a   
   chaotic, terrifying scene, with people thrown against walls,   
   furniture and each other, and luggage and other loose items   
   flying through the air and hitting people.   
      
   The accident occurred at a rail yard called Frankford Junction,   
   northeast of downtown, where multiple freight and passenger   
   routes converge, and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor makes one of   
   its sharpest turns, requiring reduced speeds.   
      
   Mayor Michael A. Nutter of Philadelphia, at news conference,   
   would not confirm the reports of the excessive speed.   
      
   “It is an absolute disastrous mess,” Mr.Nutter said of the   
   scene. “Never seen anything like this in my life.”   
      
   By midday, the names of the victims began to trickle out. The   
   United States Naval Academy confirmed that one of its midshipmen   
   was among the dead, and family members identified him as Justin   
   Zemser of Rockaway Beach, in Queens, a former student body   
   president at Channel View High School.   
      
   “We’re not ready to talk yet. We are just grieving, and when we   
   are ready we will be in touch,” said a relative, who did not   
   want to be identified.   
      
   The Associated Press said that one of its employees, Jim Gaines,   
   48, a video software architect who lived in Plainsboro, N.J.,   
   was also killed.   
      
   Mr. Nutter said that the search of the twisted wreck for more   
   people, living or dead, was “still in process,” and that some   
   passengers have not yet been found, but officials were still not   
   sure how many. “We have not completely matched the manifest that   
   we received from Amtrak with the patient or hospital records,”   
   he said.   
      
   Some people who congregated at Philadelphia’s 30th Street   
   Station said they had not been able to locate loved ones.   
      
   One of those unaccounted for, co-workers said, was Rachel   
   Jacobs, chief executive officer of ApprenNet, an education   
   technology company in Philadelphia. On Twitter, the company   
   posted a message: “We are still looking for Rachel & hope she   
   will be with her family soon.”   
      
   Philadelphia’s director of emergency management, Samantha   
   Phillips, said, “Our hospitals treated over 200 patients last   
   night and this morning.”   
      
   The mayor said the engineer of the train “was injured to some   
   extent” but has spoken to the Philadelphia police about what   
   happened.   
      
   The New York-bound train jumped the tracks at about 9:30 p.m.   
   Tuesday, tossing around the 238 passengers and five crew   
   members, as most of the train’s passenger cars tumbled onto   
   their sides and crumpled. One car was particularly badly   
   mangled, looking like nothing so much as a crushed and torn soda   
   can.   
      
   Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board   
   began to arrive before 5 a.m., said Robert Sumwalt, a board   
   member, adding that they may be able to release more information   
   on Wednesday afternoon. The F.B.I. was also investigating.   
      
   On Wednesday, a giant crane moved into position and began   
   attempting to lift the damaged cars. The wreck severed Amtrak’s   
   Northeast Corridor, one of the nation’s busiest rail routes, and   
   the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s commuter   
   train line from Philadelphia to Trenton, stranding thousands of   
   passengers and threatening to snarl travel for days or weeks to   
   come.   
      
   Temple University Hospital received 54 patients from the wreck,   
   including one who died overnight from a massive chest injury,   
   Herbert E. Cushing, the chief medical officer, said Wednesday   
   morning. He said that most of the patients suffered fractures   
   from being thrown around the train, and that 25 remained in the   
   hospital, including eight people in critical condition.   
      
   “There were lots of people from all around the world” among the   
   injured, he said, including patients from Albania, India and   
   Spain.   
      
   As officials worked to notify passengers’ family members about   
   their relatives, Mr. Nutter said most of them were not from the   
   Philadelphia area, with more hailing from Washington, New York   
   and New Jersey.   
      
   About 20 minutes before the crash, on the same line but a few   
   miles away, “an unknown projectile” struck a SEPTA commuter   
   train and damaged a window, an authority spokeswoman said. It   
   was not clear whether the two incidents were related.   
      
   Amtrak officials said they were working to set up a family   
   assistance center at a downtown hotel.   
      
   The Amtrak wreck occurred in the Port Richmond section of the   
   city, in a rail yard called Frankford Junction, where multiple   
   freight and passenger routes merge. Amtrak service continued   
   between Philadelphia and Washington on a modified schedule, but   
   no trains were able to run between Philadelphia and New York.   
      
   “The guy next to me was unconscious, so I just kind of picked   
   him up and slapped him in the face and said ‘Hey buddy, get up,   
   get up,’ and he came to,” said Patrick J. Murphy, a former   
   congressman from Pennsylvania, who was on the train.   
      
   The engine pulling the train separated from the passenger cars,   
   left the tracks, rumbled through a dirt area and came to rest   
   diagonally across other sets of tracks.   
      
   After the crash, emergency workers carrying flashlights and   
   ladders moved frantically from car to car helping passengers off   
   the train, some bloodied, others dazed. Parts of the damaged   
   cars were so badly mangled that firefighters had to use   
   hydraulic tools to rescue people trapped inside.   
      
   “Train cars are overturned,” the Philadelphia fire commissioner,   
   Derrick J. V. Sawyer, said. “They’re in horrible shape. There’s   
   a bunch of debris down there, sharp objects. It’s a dangerous   
   situation for responders, even more dangerous for the riders out   
   there.”   
      
   The train had at least seven cars, including the engine, and six   
   cars overturned. One car struck a steel utility pole, and a   
   stretch of bent and twisted track could be seen near the   
   wreckage, indicating the sheer force of the crash.   
      
   Amtrak identified the train as Northeast Regional Train 188,   
   from Washington to New York. Remarkably, most people were able   
   to walk away from the crash site.   
      
   Injured passengers were taken from the scene in ambulances and   
   on buses to hospitals. Aria Health, which has two hospitals   
   nearby, said it had received 59 patients, including walk-ins.   
   Maria Cerceo Slade, a spokeswoman, said most of the patients had   
   minor injuries.   
      
   The cause of the crash was not known. It occurred close to   
   Frankford Avenue and Wheatsheaf Lane, near a bend in the track.   
   Mr. Nutter said it was too early to tell whether it had played a   
   role in the crash or if there were other factors.   
      
   “We have no idea what kind of speed there we’re talking about,”   
   Mr. Nutter said, or “what else happened out there.”   
      
   He added, “And I’m not going to speculate on that.”   
      
   Still, the derailment on Tuesday took place in roughly the same   
   area of track that was the site of one of the nation’s deadliest   
   rail accidents. On Labor Day in 1943, a 16-car Pennsylvania   
   Railroad Congressional Limited train carrying military service   
   members on leave derailed near the same curve, killing 79 people   
   and injuring 117.   
      
   Officials concluded that a hot journal box had burned off and   
   caused an axle to snap, which sent the train catapulting off the   
   track.   
      
   Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor are allowed to travel at   
   speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. But engineers are required   
   to proceed at reduced speeds in urban and residential areas,   
   such as where the derailment occurred.   
      
   The Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and   
   Washington, is one of the railroad’s busiest and most profitable   
   lines. But officials have long complained that the agency needs   
   more subsidies from Congress to improve the railroad’s   
   deteriorating infrastructure and replace aging equipment.   
      
   Amtrak canceled service between New York and Philadelphia, and   
   modified three other routes. Mr. Nutter said Amtrak service   
   through Philadelphia would most likely be suspended for the rest   
   of the week.   
      
   “It is completely wiped out down there,” he said.   
      
   The derailment prompted a large response from several federal,   
   state and local agencies. More than 200 police officers and 120   
   firefighters went to the crash site, as did dozens of officials   
   from the F.B.I., the Department of Homeland Security and other   
   agencies.   
      
   An Amtrak spokesman said an emergency hotline, 800-523-9101, had   
   been set up for relatives of anyone who may have been on the   
   train.   
      
   Amtrak employees said that New Jersey Transit would honor Amtrak   
   tickets to several nearby stations, including Trenton. Other   
   passengers tried to find alternate routes home on regional bus   
   services like Megabus and BoltBus.   
      
   Correction: May 13, 2015   
   An earlier version of this article misstated, at one point, the   
   day on which the train derailment occurred. It was on Tuesday,   
   not Wednesday.   
      
   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/us/amtrak-train-derails-crash-   
   philadelphia.html?_r=0   
      
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