Authorities: No Evidence Bullet Hit Train

Emergency personnel work the scene of a deadly train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. An Amtrak train headed to New York City derailed and crashed in Philadelphia.

Authorities are still trying to determine why an Amtrak train derailed last week in Philadelphia, killing eight people. The New York Times says some theories are starting to be ruled out.

Federal investigators said Monday that a bullet did not damage the windshield of the wrecked engine from last week’s deadly train derailment in Philadelphia, and that they found no evidence to confirm that a projectile broke through the window and struck the engineer.

On Monday, as Amtrak restored service between New York and Washington, F.B.I. investigators traveled to a train yard in Wilmington, Del., where Amtrak 188 was taken for further study. Officials analyzed the windshield to determine if damage to the glass was caused by the derailment or a projectile, such as a rock.

“It could be completely coincidental, it could be causal, and that’s exactly what we are trying to find out,” Robert L. Sumwalt, a member of the N.T.S.B., said Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

On Sunday, Mr. Sumwalt, appearing on several talk shows, said recordings of radio traffic showed that the engineer did not call dispatch to say his train had been struck, nor did the Septa engineer recall having a conversation with Mr. Bostian.

Meanwhile, four passengers filed suit Monday against Amtrak, saying the agency should have installed technology that would’ve automatically slowed the train, which was traveling more than 100 mph on a 50-mph curve when it derailed.