NTSB: Amtrak assistant conductor heard engineer say train struck by “something”

AND THERE'S ALSO THIS:

NBCNews video: Passenger on Amtrak Locomotive Says His Train Was Also Struck by Object

A passenger traveling along the same route the night that Amtrak Train 188 derailed in Philadelphia told NBC News that an object hit his train, shattering the window. 

The account from Johns Hopkins student Justin Landis makes him the third person to report a projectile hitting a train Tuesday night in that area, and comes a day after the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators were working to determine whether something struck the doomed Amtrak train before it derailed. Eight people were killed and about 200 others were injured in the accident.

IS THE AMTRAK TRAIN DERAILMENT AN INCIDENT OF JIHADIST TERRORISM?

An earlier comment from Anonymous here at IBA:

Anonymous said...

Revisit that thread on what appeared to be a bullet hole in the glass....related? If I were a conductor and experienced a bullet passing through the window near me, the threat of shots reaching passengers might encourage me to get the hell out of dodge ...FAST.

Did a Projectile have anything to do with Amtrak Crash?

----

There is this theory out there that the Amtrak train had bullet holes in the glass at the front of the train where the Engineer sits.

I gave no credence to the bullet hole theory, because I thought,

"Well, why would the Engineer refuse to talk to the Police IF HE WAS SHOT AT?"

But maybe the answer is obvious: The authorities were bound and determined to NOT call this an incident of Jihadist Terror.

VladTepes: Did a Projectile have anything to do with Amtrak Crash?

Derailment and Crash of Amtrak Train from Washington to NYC, passing through Port Richmond in NE Philadelphia

The media is discussing possible causes to the crash. However, one possibility mentioned but not being discussed at all in the media, is this:  Did a PROJECTILE that hit a SEPTA Philadelphia commuter train traveling northbound to Trenton, and busting the engineer’s window, about 15 minutes prior to the Amtrak derailment and only 3.5 miles away, crippling the train, have anything to do with the Amtrak derailment and crash?
Amtrak and Septa trains run parallel to one another from Philadelphia to Trenton (see figure 1).
Waiting to hear more from the blackbox report.
So far, nothing more from the media on this projectile.

Right Scoop has more:

So five minutes after the Septa train was hit, Amtrak derailed. It’s being reported that it was going over 100mph at derailment.

Amtrak Train SPED UP From 70 mph to 102 mph Before Crashing

From Philly.com:

Right before its fatal derailment on Tuesday night, Amtrak Train 188 accelerated significantly as it approached the Frankford Junction curve, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday. 

In barely a minute, its speed jumped from 70 m.p.h. to 102 m.p.h. three seconds before the crash, said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt at a news briefing. 

The speed limit in that area is 50 m.p.h. Sumwalt said it was unclear whether the engineer, identified as Brandon Bostian, 32, of Forest Hills, N.Y., had accelerated manually, but it was known that he did attempt to deploy the emergency brake. 

Bostian’s attorney has told ABC-TV that his client had no memory of the crash.