NTSB: Amtrak train accelerated from 70 mph to 100 mph just seconds before the crash

Robert Sumwalt.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Investigators say the Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday accelerated just seconds before the crash.

The NTSB's Robert Sumwalt said that video from inside the cabin shows that 65 seconds before the derailment, the train's speed rose above 70 mph, and 16 seconds before the end of the recording, the speed was above 100 mph, twice the speed limit for that section of the tracks. "Seconds into the turn, we could see the train tilting 10 degrees to the right," Sumwalt said. When the train crashed, the recording stopped, and investigators are not sure if the train's speed was increased manually.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.