We could learn Wednesday if engineer Brandon Bostian was using his cellphone at the time of last month’s deadly crash.
UPDATE: The NTSB determined the engineer wasn't using his phone or Wi-Fi at the time of the crash.
Investigators have determined whether the engineer in the deadly Amtrak crash that killed eight people and injured over 200 others in Philadelphia was using his cellphone, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release its latest findings on Wednesday between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. The report says the officials wouldn't reveal their findings ahead of Wednesday's announcement.
Federal accident investigators have said Amtrak's train 188 was going 106 miles per hour just before it derailed on a curve with a 50 mph speed limit. Investigators said they were still analyzing cellphone records to determine whether engineer Brandon Bostian, 32, was using it while operating the train.
The NTSB reported last month Bostian's phone records show calls were made and text messages were sent the day of the crash but they were unable to determine at that point whether the phone was used while the train was in motion.
Bostian's lawyer, Robert Goggin, has said he kept his cellphone in a bag and used it only to call 911 afterward. Bostian, who was injured, told investigators he had no recollection of the crash, the NTSB said.
"The next thing he recalls is being thrown around, coming to, finding his bag, getting his cellphone and dialing 911," Goggin said the day after the crash.
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Bostian, 32, had been an engineer on the Northeast Corridor for about three years. He was based in New York. He was specifically assigned to the Washington to New York route for several weeks before the derailment, the NTSB said.
He worked a five-day-a-week schedule — making a daily roundtrip from New York to Washington — and had a "very good working knowledge" of the territory and various speed restrictions, NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said.
Bostian spoke to investigators May 15, Sumwalt said, and did not report feeling fatigued or ill while operating the train.
