Remembering Tragic Amtrak Crash In Philadelphia, One Year Later
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Many across the region are pausing to remember a fatal Amtrak crash in Philadelphia. It was one year ago Thursday that a speeding train ran off the rails at Frankford Junction, killing eight people and injuring scores of others.
One year later, the memory of being thrown onto gravel amid the sounds of grinding metal remains vivid for 44-year-old Daniel Armyn of Long Island, New York.
"You're inside something that's being destroyed. You know what I mean? So you hear the noise, you hear the metal crunching, you hear people screaming and myself screaming, and then the next minute I wake up and I'm outside the train on gravel, like, rolling," Armyn said. "I was literally staring at the undercarriage of the train. I literally lifted myself up and I was standing. And I'm looking to the right. And I can see the wheels still turning of the train on that first car, the way it came to rest on its side. I was laying right there."
The impact shredded the ligaments in Armyn's left knee and left him with broken ribs and broken teeth. The physical injuries are healing, but he says the emotional wounds, including anxiety anytime he travels, are going to take much longer.
"I had definitely too much time of consciousness. I wish I would have been knocked out sooner, because these are the scenes that I see every day," Armyn said. "And these are the scenes that are in my head -- the noises, the smells, the sounds, and the brief moments of visual that I have before I was knocked out."
Eight fellow passengers were killed, and more than 200 were injured. The train had been doing 106 miles an hour, when the speed limit was 50.
The train's engineer told investigators in November he remembered pushing the throttle forward to pick up speed and then braking when he felt the train going too fast into the curve, but said there were things he didn't remember, including what happened between throttling up and the curve.
But Armyn says the tragedy is something he'll never forget.
"I remember looking down, in perspective, looking down back into distance - the train, you know, car one and car two and car three going all the way back to the cars remaining on the track," he said. "Seeing car three burst into flames and hearing people in front of me and the metal that was stuck. You know, it was horrific."
Armyn says he tells his story in the hopes that no one will need to feel as if their life is in danger when they step onto public transportation.
On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board issues its report on the derailment.
