1. Investigation and Analysis
1.1 Synopsis
About 9:21 p.m. eastern daylight time on May 12, 2015, eastbound Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger corporation) passenger train 188 derailed at milepost (MP) 81.62 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] (See figure 1.) The train had just entered the Frankford Junction curve—where the speed is restricted to 50 mph—at 106 mph. It was dark and 81°F with no precipitation; visibility was 10 miles. As the train entered the curve, the locomotive engineer (engineer) applied the emergency brakes. Seconds later, the train—one locomotive and seven passenger cars—derailed. There were 245 passengers, 5 on-duty Amtrak employees, and 3 offduty Amtrak employees on board. Eight passengers were killed and 185 others were transported to area hospitals. (See table 1.) Amtrak estimated its damages to be more than $30.84 million; an adjacent Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) track sustained about $330,000 in damages.
Figure 1. Accident scene.
- ↑ In this report, the accident train direction will be referred to as eastbound. Amtrak timetables refer to trains heading toward New York as eastbound and trains going in the opposite direction as westbound.
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