Amtrak Engineer of Derailed Train Identified as Brandon Bostian

[LiberalElite]

Source: ABC

The engineer driving the Amtrak train that derailed Tuesday night has been identified as 32-year-old Brandon Bostian.

The attorney for Bostian, a Queens, New York, resident, confirmed his identity to ABC News.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Bostian has worked at Amtrak for nearly nine years, the first half of which he spent as a passenger conductor before he became a passenger engineer in December 2010.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said today that the engineer suffered unspecified injuries and received medical care.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/GMABig/amtrak-engineer-derailed-train-identified-brandon-bostian/story?id=31023810

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Also posting in NY since he's from Queens.

[swilton]

1. I don't necessarily like the idea

of making the engineer the scapegoat....The US rail system is third world - this type of accident was waiting to happen...

[LiberalElite]

2. I don't think he's the scapegoat - yet nt

[yellowcanine]

4. if this is true it is inexcusable however.

The NTSB announced that preliminary data indicated that the train's speed exceeded 100 mph. There is a 50 mph limit at the curve where the train derailed, so the reason why the train was going in excess of twice the limit will be one of the biggest questions facing investigators.

Granted, the rail system is antiquated. But speed limits should be obeyed. Antiquated system is not a defense.

[MicaelS]

5. If the speed limit for this track was 50mph..

And the train was doing 106mph, and he was at the controls, he is no scapegoat. He was negligent.

[philosslayer]

6. When he's driving the train at twice the speed limit?

If that is in fact true, then its clearly his fault.

[840high]

8. He was going 106 miles in a 50-60 zone.

[Plucketeer]

9. Before we pummel this guy

let's confirm it was HIS fault it was going so fast - and not some technical malfunction.

[840high]

10. That's what the investigators are doing.

[Plucketeer]

21. I realized that

my comment was inspired by some of the previous posts.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

3. I wonder why the train was going so fast

Amtrak train thought to be going twice as fast as it should have been

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/us/philadelphia-amtrak-train-derailment/index.html

By Greg Botelho and Kevin Conlon, CNN

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Nutter is on Rachael now

talking about him.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

11. Any comments about the speed ?

Oversite or system failure or what ?

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Not at this point

They are waiting for the NTSB to interview the engineer and be able to comb through the crash site (they have to get the train cars removed first).

[joshcryer]

13. He's going with memory loss.

Has been fully cooperative.

Lapse of judgement likely happened.

But his lawyer is pretty much on point.

Proving negligence in this case is going to be quite difficult.

He fucked up. The details behind it are unclear and will probably never be known.

[Helen Borg]

15. Unless they can prove he was texting...

Or that he had some illegal substances in his blood. I'm sure they got samples from him...

[joshcryer]

16. He handed over his phone and mandatory blood testing was done.

Maybe he did forget what happened, can't prove it either way, but odds are human error is going to be the final judgement.

He's bee quite co-operative, apparently spent 6 hours with the investigators talking about it. Most of that time without a lawyer. Sounds like he lawyered up after they kept hounding him.

[dembotoz]

14. ah yes linked in has other uses besides networking

Have mixed feelings about linked in
Well no actually not that mixed

[Sunlei]

17. Amtrack can't place an app on a cell phone to track the damn speed of the train?

why the heck not? Or even a GPS on the train!

same thing with planes, why the heck do they hand over control of the entire train or plane or ship to one person?

[libdem4life]

18. Actually there is a safety-type device installed on every part of that route, except the worst

part, there. Republicans voted the money down, the day AFTER the crash. I'm sure they made no mental or human connection between their actions and the tragedy.

[Sunlei]

19. I know. but a salesmans tracker app or a GPS, so easy to use is cheap, less then 200.00!

republicans murder Americans by their actions.

[Ruby the Liberal]

22. They do

That corridor has WiFi. As soon as you log into it, it brings up a default page that shows the route on a map, where you are on the route, next stop (and time remaining to reach it due to current speed), weather conditions, etc... Its really cool.

[freshwest]

20. Brooklynite's thread linked to a good PA paper. Passengers said they heard the brakes.

I don't know if that is flat there, but it looks that way from the link. Trying to figure out - was he going that fast because the brakes failed or the engine wasn't responding to his control?

And aren't some of these trains controlled at towers and the engineers don't have full control? Thought I read that somehwere.

I didn't know that it was going that fast from that link. But it said there were 8 NTSB investigators before they even were able to survey the damage and check for missing. So they are finding out very fast.

The GOP Congress has been cutting funding for public railroads and highways and bridges, it's part of the Koch agenda. To get rid of the NTSB, DOT, etc. and then privatize all roads, railways and waterways. Gotta get their cut.

Guess we will learn more soon. Thanks for posting the update.