An Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night was blazing by at a speed of 106 miles per hour (mph) toward a stretch of curved rail where the maximum speed is pegged at 50 mph.
Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told Reuters that Brandon Bostian, the locomotive engineer for Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188, fully applied the train's emergency braking system as it approached the 50 mph zone. However, the train only managed to slow down to 102 mph, still well above the speed limit, before the locomotive and all seven cars of the train derailed.
"One hundred six miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour zone ... that's just insane," said a shocked Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia, who was clearly dismayed about the accident, further calling it "astounding" and "devastating."
