Amtrak Train Was Speeding Just Before Derailment

WASHINGTON (AP) — An analysis by The Associated Press of surveillance video just before the deadly crash of an Amtrak train indicates it was traveling about 107 miles per hour as it approached a curve where the speed limit was only 50 miles per hour.

The video shows the train — which was roughly 662 feet long — passes the camera in just over five seconds.

But AP found that the surveillance video inexplicably plays back slightly slower than in real time.

So, adjusting for the slower playback puts the train's estimated speed at 107 miles per hour. The surveillance camera was located at a site just before the bend in the tracks.

Light from an apparent explosion is visible in the video just over three seconds after the train passes.

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police officials say the engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed, killing seven people and injuring more than 200, declined to provide a statement to investigators.

They say the engineer also had an attorney when he left a meeting today with investigators at a police precinct. The engineer has not yet been identified.

Investigators are trying to determine why the train slipped off the tracks while rounding a sharp curve Tuesday night northeast of Philadelphia's city center.

Authorities say the locomotive's data recorder has been recovered and that it should yield critical information, including the speed of the train.

The speed limit just before the curve was 70 mph and on the curve it was 50 mph.

The Federal Railroad Administration says Amtrak inspected the tracks just hours before the derailment and found no defects.