Train struck before derailment
The NTSB says a projectile appears to have hit the windshield of Trail 188 before it derailed. One of the two assistant conductors on the train said that shortly after leaving Philadelphia’s 30th Street station, she heard an engineer from a local SEPTA commuter train report his train being hit.
She recalled that the SEPTA engineer had reported to the train dispatcher that he had either been hit by a rock or shot at. And that the SEPTA engineer said that he had a broken windshield, and that he placed his train into emergency stop….This is her recollection, and certainly we are going to be conducting further investigation of this comment. Our investigation has not independently confirmed this information, but we have seen damage to the left hand, lower portion of the Amtrak windshield that we have asked the FBI to come in and look at for us
The NTSB later tells CBS News it was looking into reports that a third train, Amtrak Acela 2173, was also struck by an object the same night.