Amtrak engineer reports seeing misaligned track

NTSB investigators say engineer saw misaligned track and tried to stop the train.

KENSINGTON, Maryland (CNN) -- Seconds before Amtrak's Capital Limited train derailed near Washington, injuring 101 people, the engineer saw misaligned track ahead of him and threw on the brakes, investigators said Tuesday.

The engineer estimated that the right rail was 18 inches out of alignment, according to National Transportation Safety Board Vice-Chairwoman Carol Carmody. But an examination by NTSB investigators after the crash showed that the rail was 30 inches out of alignment and had reached a temperature of at least 118 degrees, she said.

Carmody said intense summer heat is one of the possible causes for the misaligned track, but she cautioned that the investigation is still going on.

"We've ruled nothing out, nothing in," she said.

Eleven of the 15 cars on the Capitol Limited left the rails early Monday afternoon, just 10 minutes before the Chicago-to-Washington train was to reach its final destination, Union Station. The train carried 161 passengers and a crew of 12.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Investigators think high heat may have buckled rails at the site of an Amtrak crash in Kensington, Maryland. CNN's Keith Oppenheim reports (July 30) Play video No one died but 101 people were injured when an Amtrak train derailed just north of the nation's capital. CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports (July 30) Play video   EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: Amtrak derailment  • Other recent U.S. train accidents  • Map: Amtrak train route  • Timeline: Amtrak accidents    RESOURCES Contact number for family members of Amtrak passengers:  800 523-9101

Of the 101 people injured, 84 were taken to hospitals for treatment. As of Thursday afternoon, 14 people were still hospitalized, according to Amtrak.

Among the most seriously injured was an 81-year-old North Carolina woman who was being treated for trauma at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, according to hospital officials. She was in serious condition Tuesday, said hospital spokeswoman Ronna Borenstein.

Engineer had only five seconds

The engineer told investigators that the misaligned track was 500 to 600 feet ahead of him when he noticed it -- only 4 to 5 seconds away at the train's traveling speed of 60 miles per hour, Carmody said.

Meanwhile, starting Wednesday, CSX railroad will require Amtrak trains using the company's tracks to slow down during periods of extreme heat. Amtrak's Capitol Limited was passing over CSX tracks when it derailed.

"We have a duty to protect the people that ride on passenger trains on our rail lines," said Alan F. Crown, CSX's executive vice president for transportation. "Until we know more facts about the recent derailment and are able to determine if there is a better solution, we're taking the most conservative course."

Under the railroad's new policy, passenger trains will have to slow to the speed of freight trains on tracks that are under heat orders, which are implemented by CSX after several days of consecutive temperatures in the 90s or when there is a 40-degree change in temperature in a single day.

At the time of the crash, a heat order was in effect on the track in Kensington, requiring freight trains to reduce speed from their normal maximum of 55 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour. But the heat order did not apply to passenger trains, which are much lighter than freight trains, Carmody said.

Had the new policy been in effect, the Amtrak train's maximum speed would have been 45 miles per hour at the time of the derailment, some 15 miles per hour slower than it was traveling. But asked if the slower speed might have prevented the accident, Carmody said, "We couldn't say that at this point."

Tamping work performed Sunday

She said that as of now, the NTSB has not recommended that other railroads carrying Amtrak cars impose similar rules elsewhere in the United States.

"When we complete our investigation, we may have some advice on that," she said.

Investigators also plan to interview the crew that performed routine maintenance on the Kensington track Thursday. Their work included "tamping," a process by which the railroad bed is tamped down to compact the bed and increase the elevation of the rails, Carmody said.

Part of that "tamping" work, normally done by machine, was done by hand after the machine broke down, she said. Whether that could have had any effect on the misaligned track will be part of the investigation, she said.

Meanwhile, crews at the scene of the derailment had removed most of the debris Tuesday, and the rail line is expected to reopen Tuesday night, Carmody said.

-- CNN Correspondent Patty Davis contributed to this report.