Engineer: Tracks Ahead Were Crooked

The engineer of an Amtrak Auto Train that derailed in Florida, killing four people and injuring 159, tried to stop the train when he saw that the tracks ahead were crooked, a federal official said Friday.

George Black of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators have not yet determined what caused the train to hurtle off the tracks. He said investigators were still trying to confirm whether the track was out of alignment.

The tracks had been visually inspected eight hours before the crash and had been in good condition, according to CSX, the freight railroad that owns the track.

It is not uncommon for rails to expand in the Florida heat, but Black said the temperature — 81 degrees Fahrenheit — did not appear to be a factor. Misalignments can also be caused by damage done by a previous train.

Black said four other trains had passed over the area just before the wreck, apparently without trouble. He said investigators examined two of those trains for signs of damage from bad track and found no problems.

Amtrak spokeswoman Cheryl Jackson said sabotage was not suspected.

The engineer, who was not hurt, was tested for drugs, a routine step after an accident. The results were not immediately disclosed. The engineer's name and background were not released.

The passengers were mostly Florida vacationers returning north, reports CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann. Many remember a haunting sound, the train's brakes screeching.

"Then all of a sudden I heard a big boom — I fell over, everybody's luggage fell on me, a train window fell on me, the whole train went upside down," one passenger told CBS News.

Two of the four killed were a husband and wife; three of the fatalities were ejected from the train.

The engineer hit the train's emergency brakes at about 5 p.m. Thursday, an hour into its trip from central Florida to the Washington, D.C.-area.

The front end of the train, the twin locomotives, stayed on the tracks, as did the 24 cargo cars at the rear that were hauling more than 200 cars, vans and SUVs. However, the middle of the train, where passengers rode, collapsed like a tin can. Fourteen of the 16 passenger cars derailed.

"Usually passenger trains don't have that much weight behind," said Black. "In this particular case they did."

Amtrak says the train was carrying 418 passengers and 34 crew members. Of those treated, 27 remain hospitalized Friday, including a 73-year-old woman in critical condition at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

The train, billed by Amtrak as the longest passenger train in the world, is a favorite among families traveling between the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and Orlando's theme parks. It crashed along U.S. Highway 17, about 60 miles north of Orlando, in an area known as the "Fern Capital of the United States."

Among the passengers was Sharon Mahoney, general manager of Auto Train.

Mahoney, 52, was riding in the first passenger car, a sleeper, behind the two locomotives when the engineer suddenly put the train into an emergency stop.

Hers was one of two passenger cars that did not derail. She was unaware of the destruction until she stepped out and saw a jumble of cars, some on their sides.

"It was very quiet," she said. "And then all the windows started busting out," as passengers and crew members climbed through windows to get out.

The train was going 56 mph in a 60 mph zone when the accident happened, Black said.

"Suddenly you could feel the brakes scraping," said David Sheldon, 71, who was traveling with his wife, Sylvia, from Boca Raton.

He said it took about 30 seconds for the train to come to stop.

"It seemed like forever," he said.

"We just started hurtling and left the track and the next thing we knew, we were bouncing off the walls," said Bernie Morgan, traveling from Naples to Doylestown, Pa.

Rescue officials, using ladders to reach the overturned cars, helped survivors out of the train and reached through the windows to get to the people still trapped inside. Medics and fellow passengers were seen helping the injured.

Firefighters, carrying backboards, were climbing through windows to get inside the cars. Rescuers went car-to-car, painting orange C's on the bottom of the overturned cars once they determined the car was cleared of people.

The American Red Cross sent disaster response teams to the crash site and to Lorton. The teams include mental health workers to comfort victims, family members and emergency workers.

The Auto Train service carried 234,000 passengers in 2000, according to Amtrak, making it one of the most popular and successful routes of the nation's passenger rail line.