Was doomed train hit before it derailed?

THE NATIONAL Transportation Safety Board held its fourth and final news conference yesterday about its probe into the fatal crash of Amtrak Train 188, but the update did little to quell the tide of questions circulating since the train derailed late Tuesday.

In fact, it only generated more uncertainty - including whether the train was struck by an unknown projectile mere moments before flying off the track at more than 100 mph.

"Over the last few days, we've gotten a lot done," the NTSB's Robert Sumwalt told reporters at the Sheraton Philadelphia Society Hill Hotel, on Dock Street near 2nd. "But there's a lot that still needs to be done, as our team remains in the area."

Sumwalt said his investigators spent most of yesterday morning interviewing three crew members from the train, including its engineer, Brandon Bostian.

Bostian, who has helmed trains for Amtrak since 2010, "was extremely cooperative" throughout his 1 1/2-hour interview with investigators yesterday and has made himself available for future questioning, Sumwalt said.

Robert Goggin, Bostian's attorney, was with him at the interview, during which the New York City resident "demonstrated a very clear knowledge of speed restrictions" along the route to Washington, D.C., that he covered daily, Sumwalt said.

But he can't remember too much else, apparently.

In the hours before the ill-fated trip through Philadelphia, Bostian had completed his normal run from Manhattan's Penn Station to Washington, D.C.'s Union Station.

That earlier trip was marked by mechanical troubles and ended up arriving at its destination 30 minutes late, Sumwalt said. Despite this, Bostian reported no fatigue or illness before his return trip.

Ultimately, the engineer's last memory before waking up in the twisted wreckage of the train is passing Amtrak's North Philadelphia Station, about 4 miles from the sharp curve at Frankford Junction where the derailment took place, Sumwalt said.

His fellow crew members, however, had much more to say during questioning.

One of the train's assistant conductors, a 39-year-old woman, said the ride up from Washington was "normal" and that all proper pre-departure safety checks had been completed.

Then, about three minutes after the train left 30th Street Station, the assistant conductor overheard a radio conversation between a SEPTA engineer and an Amtrak dispatcher from her post in the train's cafe car, according to Sumwalt.

She told investigators that the SEPTA engineer reported that his train "had either been hit by a rock or shot at," Sumwalt said.

The SEPTA train, which runs on parallel tracks, had made an emergency stop, the engineer said.

Bostian's voice chimed in over the radio. He, too, reported that his windshield had been struck by something, the assistant conductor told investigators.

Moments later, she felt a "rumbling." Then, the train derailed.

Sumwalt said his team had found no evidence corroborating this account, which was based solely on the recollection of the assistant conductor, who he noted had gone through "a very traumatic experience."

However, further examination of the train's windshield at the crash site showed a "circular pattern of damage" in its lower left corner, Sumwalt said. The NTSB has asked the FBI to help test the ruined locomotive, in an attempt to discover how and when the damage was made.

For his part, Bostian "didn't recall any projectiles," when asked specifically about the conversation overheard by the assistant conductor, according to Sumwalt.

Questions continued to be raised yesterday about the SEPTA train and an Amtrak Acela, both struck by projectiles in North Philly shortly before the derailment of Train 188.

A report that an Acela traveling on the same corridor about five minutes before the SEPTA train was also hit by projectiles "bolsters the likelihood that it was a couple of vandals throwing rocks at random trains going by," SEPTA spokesman Manny Smith said.

Smith said his agency is "confident" that the SEPTA train was the target of vandals who most likely were throwing rocks.

"That location is an instance where usually kids or vandals end up throwing projectiles at trains," Smith said. "We're out there about once a week."

Smith said the agency is "absolutely confident" that the damage to the SEPTA train and the Amtrak derailment were unrelated.

Hours before Sumwalt's news conference, Michael Resnick, Philadelphia's director of public safety, told the

Daily News

that he had fielded phone calls from reporters who heard rumors about the Amtrak train having been pockmarked with bullet holes.

"There are no bullet holes," he said.

The derailed train cars went on a violent journey, ripping up chunks of earth as portions of them barreled across the tracks, Resnick said.

Officer Richard Hough, who was among the Philly cops who ventured to the crash site Tuesday night to tend to victims, said he noticed holes on the train that appeared to match the size of some of the rocks nearby.

Hough, 30, took part in a City Hall news conference yesterday morning along with numerous other emergency responders who were given a chance to share their experiences from the night that shook the city.

Like most other large American cities, Philadelphia has spent its post-9/11 years preparing for an all-hands-on-deck catastrophe.

When it arrived, in the form of twisted metal, broken bones and unspeakable terror, the emergency response unfolded with machinelike effectiveness - an "incredible display of training and coordination," according to Mayor Nutter.

But for the people who encountered the carnage up close, it was a slightly different story. There are, after all, human beings in those uniforms, and hearts behind the badges.

Fire Department Deputy Chief Craig Murphy said he was at home when he received a phone call that shared heart-stopping news: Amtrak Train 188 had derailed.

"Normally folks are pretty calm," he said. "What I was hearing . . . was controlled chaos."

By now, 9-1-1 calls began to pour in, one after another. Fire Communications dispatcher Khiria Greene said she at first thought she was fielding multiple calls about a single SEPTA train that had been struck by a projectile in North Philly about 9:10 p.m.

Then she realized this was another train, and a much larger problem. Greene said she started spreading the word to area hospitals: The city had a mass-casualty incident on its hands.

Some calls came from passengers who didn't know where they were, just that they were hurt and terrified.

Lt. Joe Farrell, of Ladder 15, was among the first firefighters at the scene. The crash site was cloaked in darkness. Moans echoed from inside the twisted remains of the train cars.

Farrell said the scale of the crisis was "overwhelming."

Police officer Tim Coleman said it was "like a scene from a movie."

Everett Gillison, Mayor Nutter's chief of staff, said Homeland Security officials began to sweep the area to determine if a bomb had gone off.

No one could assume that the derailment had been an accident - not in this day and age.

Murphy said he raced to the scene. "Nothing was under control," he said. But soon, the pieces began to fall into place.

Police canines, specially trained to find human remains, identified the exact spots were the dead would be found.

Live wires were killed. Triage centers were assembled.

Hough, a paramedic who has spent 10 years on the police force, said that he and a handful of other officers from North Philly's 25th District accessed the crash site by squeezing through a hole in a fence.

"I initially planned on sizing up the entire scene, but then I started getting called by my guys to come and check on different individuals," he said.

Off-duty cops showed up in their civilian clothes. Others, like Highway Patrol Sgt. James Morace, whose shifts for the day had already ended, hightailed it to the scene.

"We turn on the [police] lights and go," Morace said.

Meanwhile, the city's Office of Emergency Management tried to collect and cross-reference a list of passengers who had been on the train with names of victims who had been taken to hospitals by cops and firefighters.

Families of passengers began assembling at John H. Webster Elementary School, on Frankford Avenue near Ontario Street in Kensington, to gather information on their missing relatives.

Noelle Foizen, who manages health and human services planning for OEM, said she was struck by how often the worry-stricken relatives would turn their attention to her. She's six months' pregnant.

"We were there for a long time. They were all upset," Foizen said. "But they were also excited to talk to me about my pregnancy. It showed me that people still have that hope for the future."

For many, that hope will be tempered with sadness and pain in the days ahead - and a furious desire to get to the bottom of what caused the derailment.

In a statement released last night, Amtrak president Joe Boardman said the company is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation.

"With truly heavy hearts, we mourn those who died. Their loss leaves holes in the lives of their families and communities," Boardman said.

"On behalf of the entire Amtrak family, I offer our sincere sympathies and prayers for them and their loved ones. Amtrak takes full responsibility and deeply apologizes for our role in this tragic event."

Back at Frankford Junction, the NTSB continued its probe. Many staffers planned to leave last night, and only two cars remained at the crash site, an NTSB spokesman said. Authorities said it would be several days until the site was cleared.