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NSTB: Amtrak Crash Engineer Was Not Using His Phone

The report was released Wednesday morning ahead of a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Good. Now we can concentrate on finding the real cause of this horrific accident:

WASHINGTON (WPVI) -- The engineer on an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia last month was not using his cellphone prior to the crash, according to a new NTSB report.

The report was released Wednesday morning ahead of a hearing on Capitol Hill.

"Analysis of the phone records does not indicate that any calls, texts, or data usage occurred during the time the engineer was operating the train. Amtrak's records confirm that the engineer did not access the train's Wi-Fi system while he was operating the locomotive," according to the report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The May 12 derailment and crash killed 8 people and injured more than 200.

[...] National Transportation Safety Board investigators have said previously that the train accelerated to 106 miles per hour in the last minute before entering a curve where the speed limit is 50 mph. In the last few seconds the brakes were applied with maximum force, but the train was still traveling at over 100 mph when it left the tracks.

Congress has been pressing the safety board for answers to the key question of whether engineer Brandon Bostian was using his phone. Bostian suffered a head injury in the crash, and his attorney has said the engineer doesn't remember anything after the train pulled out of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the last stop before the derailment.

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