An Amtrak conductor on medical leave in the Bay area has watched news of the derailment in Philadelphia in disbelief.
Mike Callanan worked that very northeast route for Amtrak as a conductor for five years. He even trained the conductor who was onboard when the train flew off the track, killing eight people.
“It was very emotional for me," said Callanan. "These are my brothers and sisters out there. I worked with them every day on the Northeast Corridor.”
Callanan is very familiar with the curve leaving Philadelphia where the derailment occurred. The speed limit is 50 miles an hour. The train was going more than 100 miles an hour. That’s a mind-boggling speed for Callanan who says the engineers know this a hair-pin curve and to always slow down.
“To take that curve at 106 miles an hour is just unbelievable to me,” he said.
Callanan has a theory as to what may have caused the derailment. He says that particular curve is a known trouble spot for kids throwing bricks and rocks at the train.
“I believe it is possible something was thrown at the train, broke the window and knocked out the engineer. He could have slumped forward on the throttle and accelerated the train," said Callanan.
That is part of the investigation. Philadelphia’s mayor confirmed that just 20 minutes before the derailment, a local commuter train and another Amtrak train were hit by “unknown projectiles.” An engineer’s window was broken on one of those trains. This happened on the same track as the derailment.
Callanan acknowledges this is pure speculation, but he cautions people not to rush to judgment.
“There’s a lot of pointing fingers toward the engineer and I would say let the investigation take its course and find out what happened before anybody judges anybody else,” Callanan said.
Callanan is still trying to find out the condition of all his co-workers. The conductor he trained on that route is hospitalized, suffering from a fractured skull.