Amtrak victims: Investigative findings hard to believe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Victims of last year's deadly Amtrak derailment aren't buying the findings of federal investigators that the train's engineer likely lost his bearings because he was distracted by an incident with a nearby train.

Having ruled out other factors including equipment problems and cell phone use, investigators determined that engineer Brandon Bostian lost track of where he was after hearing on the radio that a commuter train had been struck with a rock.

[...] investigators said, Bostian accelerated full-throttle, causing the train to reach 106 mph as it entered a sharp curve with a 50 mph speed limit.

"Excluding all the other suspects that we looked at, the best we could come up with was that he was distracted from this radio conversation about the damaged train and forgot where he was," NTSB chairman Christopher Hart said.

NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said Tuesday night that investigators would have preferred more evidence, like video from an inward facing camera in the locomotive that would have allowed them to review Bostian's actions.

The NTSB said a contributing factor in the derailment was the railroad industry's decades-long failure to fully install positive train control — GPS-based technology that can automatically slow trains that are going over the speed limit.

Over the last 20 years, the NTSB has listed the lack of positive train control as a contributing factor in 25 crashes, Chairman Christopher Hart said, including fatal wrecks in Chatsworth, California in 2008 and New York City in 2013.

The NTSB also recommended research into train seat belts and ways to secure luggage that can become missiles in a derailment; training for crew members on multitasking; and new equipment and procedures to help engineers keep track of their location in spots where there is no positive train control.