A rail safety consultant has suggested that the train derailment that killed three people and wounded 50 in Montana on Saturday night could have been caused by the driver 'jamming on' the locomotive's breaks to avoid running a stop signal.
Eight cars out of the 10 cars on Amtrak's Empire Builder 7/27 train derailed as it carried 141 passengers and 16 crew members from Chicago to Seattle, according to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.
Two train cars separated and slid down a 30 foot embankment, and police confirmed that three passengers onboard died. As of Sunday afternoon, five passengers are still hospitalized, but are in stable condition.
It is currently unclear what caused the crash.
Former Amtrak conductor turned safety consultant Michael Callanan told Dailymail.com that there is a 'distinct possibility' that sudden braking was a factor, based on the proximity of a stop signal to the site of the crash.
He said another explanation could be ill-maintained tracks.
BNSF Railway, which owns the tracks where the crash occurred, and Amtrak, which owns the train, are looking into the derailment, alongside federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Matt Jones, a BNSF Railway spokesman said at a news conference that the track where the accident occurred was last inspected on Thursday.
Per the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, all trains must install 'Positive Train Control,' a satellite-controlled system that automatically stops a locomotive before accidents occur.
However, Callanan said that a number of railroads have put off the expensive installations and petitioned government officials for more time.
This aerial view taken Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, shows an Amtrak train that derailed in north-central Montana Saturday that killed multiple people and left others hospitalized, officials said. The westbound Empire Builder was en route to Seattle from Chicago, with two locomotives and 10 cars, when it left the tracks about 4 p.m. Saturday. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)
Three people are dead and more than 50 are injured after an Amtrak train carrying 146 passengers and 13 crew derailed in Montana on Saturday afternoon
Crews appear to be using ladders to get on top of the cars in what appears to be an rescue effort. Ambulances and emergency vehicles are on the scene
Allan Zarembski, director of the University of Delaware's Railway Engineering and Safety Program, said he didn't want to speculate but suspected the derailment stemmed from an issue with the train track or equipment, or a combination of both.
Railways have 'virtually eliminated' major derailments by human error after the implementation of positive train control nationwide, Zarembski said.
'I would be surprised if this was a human-factor derailment,' Zarembski said.
It is unclear whether the Empire Builder 7/27 was outfitted with PTC equipment.
The National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday it is launching a 14-member 'go team' to investigate the derailment.
Callanan told MailOnline that the number of agencies involved is one of the elements that will stretch out that investigation, which he said could take up to two years.
Passengers crawled down ladders to safety as rescue teams assisted
Passengers said that the derailed cars on the track near Joplin, Montana, have left some passengers trapped inside. One passenger said she heard a boom and felt the carriage 'pitching violently side-to-side'
'They're going to download a black box [that] measures everything – what position the throttle was in, what kind of breaks were put on, how fast he was going,' Callanan said.
'They're going to download the dash cam, they're going to drug test the whole crew to see if there was any drugs and alcohol involved.'
He said that the National Transportation Safety Board will 'take that train to a warehouse, piece everything together and test every part of the train - every car, [and the] breaks on every car.'
At least three cars are derailed and two have separated from the train
The last train car was completely on its side from the derailment
Witnesses - each person who was riding the train and anyone who can be found that saw the crash from outside the train - will all be interviewed by the agencies.
Meanwhile, during the long-spanning investigation, all of the employees who were manning that train will be 'taken out of service.'
Amtrak employees have the option to buy into insurance, he said, but most don't.
He added: 'Hopefully the employees that did not pay into that have money saved up.'
Amtrak said in a statement Sunday: 'We are deeply saddened to learn local authorities are now confirming that three people have lost their lives as a result of this accident,'
Amanda Frickel, the disaster and emergency services coordinator for Hill County, Montana told The New York
