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Amtrak Derailment Under Investigation; Not All Passengers May Be Accounted For; Black Box Being Analyzed; Amtrak Derailment Survivor Speaks; Interview with Sen. Ben Cardin; Amtrak Government Funding. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 13, 2015 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[13:00:04] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the search for answers after that deadly Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia. The city's mayor describing the initial scene as an absolute disastrous mess. In an interview with our own Chris Cuomo he said authorities have not ruled out the possibility of more victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL NUTTER, MAYOR, PHILADELPHIA: Search and rescue operation is continuing. The cars are torn in half. They're turned over. They're on their side. And -- but our rescue folks are still working through all of the cars and the debris out there. We need to try, as best as possible, to account for everyone we think may have been on the train. Sometimes people buy tickets and don't make the train and we just don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: At the accident site, first responders pulled bloodied passengers from the wreckage. At least six people were killed, more than 200 were injured. Eight are still listed in critical condition.

A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is on the scene right now. The train's so-called black box recorder has been recovered and is being analyzed. Amtrak suspended service between Philadelphia and New York because of the accident. That has left some passengers scrambling to find alternate transportation.

President Obama spoke with Philadelphia's mayor this morning. He also says the nation's thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. In a statement the president said, this is a tragedy that touches us all. As we work to determine exactly what happened, I commend the fire, police and medical personnel working tirelessly and professionally to save lives. The president adds, Philadelphia is known as the city of brotherly love, a city of neighborhoods and neighbors, and that spirit of loving kindness was reaffirmed last night.

Crews are still searching the wreckage and going over passengers' lists. They're trying to make sure everyone is accounted for. And investigators are now looking for clues about the cause of the accident.

CNN's Kate Bolduan is on the scene. She is live at the site. Kate, give us a sense of what's happening there right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, you really laid it out really well. But there's a lot -- a ton of activity right here on the scene still. You can kind of -- you can see some of the activity behind me. The traffic, obviously, starting to flow here again in Philadelphia. What's going on back there is they're just beginning, really, to kind of wrap their arms around the huge task in front of investigators.

Earlier, just a couple hours ago, when the NTSB came forward, they said they were really just about to get their efforts underway because they were letting priority be where it should have been. Search and rescue efforts as emergency crews were on the scene. They needed to -- they need to clear out for NTSB investigators to get their teams into start the arduous task of figuring out and mapping the -- what really is almost like a crime scene to get the forensics going and to find out what happened and what led to this horrific crash.

That kind of goes together on two fronts, Wolf. One you already talked about, the black back. That has already been recovered, is being analyzed at their operations headquarters in Delaware. That's going to provide information like speed, brake application, throttle application, the kind of things you can get from a -- from a black box. They say that is going to be a very important fact that they may have some information for us a little later today.

The other part of this investigation is they're going to be mobilizing their teams. Teams looking at the tracks. Team looking at the signals. Teams looking at, as they describe it, a kind of NTSB speak, Wolf, the human performance as well as mechanical conditions of the trains and the tracks. Those teams are really just starting to mobilize and they're getting all of that task underway with the big question still out there.

And we're waiting for an update, Wolf, and I know you're waiting to hear it as well, is the fact that they still don't have any -- everyone accounted for. That is a huge factor and a huge concern, obviously, as they try to establish what happened and who all is hurt and injured. Pardon. The emergency crews, as you hear, are behind us.

BLITZER: Kate, what are you learning about the victims and, as you point out, those still who maybe unaccounted for?

BOLDUAN: They haven't been able to give us good information, Wolf, about how many people are unaccounted for. Mayor Michael Nutter, he has said he wasn't going to get into that. They have a discrepancy in their manifest, if you will, and that could -- there could be a lot of factors that go into that. The fact that they don't -- the manifest given to them from Amtrak and the information they have from folks in the hospital, they're not necessarily matching up.

I should give you an important note. We will be getting another press conference just over my left shoulder. They're going to be holding another press update -- press briefing. The mayor is going to be holding that at 2:00 Eastern. And I am told that they are going to be in a position to give us some new information, though they wouldn't describe to me exactly what kind of updates we could be getting.

But some important and tragic information that we are coming -- getting more information about is some of the identities of the six people that we have confirmed dead. One of them, his name is Justin Zemser. And I believe we have a photograph. Hopefully, we can be showing you that. He's 20 years old. He's a sophomore. He's a midshipman. He was sophomore at the naval academy. He was on the train.

[13:05:04] According to the naval academy, he was on leave. He was on his way home. His family, a representative for the family, spoke to CNN saying, understandably so, that they are absolutely beside themselves. They don't really know how to wrap their arms around the death and what they're facing right now. That is one person who has been identified. He was among the dead. Another person who has been identified as among the dead. His name is Jim Gaines. He's a video software architect for "The Associated Press." He's 48 years old, a father of two. He's also among those who perished in this crash -- in this horrific, horrific crash.

But, Wolf, putting, if you can, a bit of a silver ling on it, there are six people, at least, confirmed dead. When you sees those images, and the mayor said it himself, it's amazing that so many people were able to walk off of that train, when you look at just how horrific and mangled that metals is. If they can just to try to figure out how this happened -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Have they been able to speak with the conductor, Kate?

BOLDUAN: That's a big question. The mayor, he said -- and I'm hoping to get an update on that as well at this 2:00 briefing. The mayor said that they -- he said that the conductor, the engineer, was somewhat injured and that he was going to speak or has spoken with police investigators. That's clearly a big question and will be a big focus of the investigation and what the conductor knows and what happened, in terms of the human performance as the NTSB says it.

So, I believe -- we -- I don't know the extent of the conductor's injuries, though. But we are getting some information from our Rene Marsh who's been doing some great reporting, in terms of the focus of the investigation. They say they're not ruling anything out, Wolf. But, at the moment, a lot of focus is on speed because of the way that the train went off the track. The angles that the train cars are located and kind of the damage that they see, speed is a big focus. We're at an important bend here, and they are required to slow down how fast they're going to about 50 miles an hour. And so, speed is going to be something that they're looking into. That could be one of the key factors coming out of that black box -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to check back with you shortly, Kate. Thanks very much. Kate Baldwin reporting for us from the scene. Joining us now, one of the survivors who managed to walk away from the Amtrak wreckage. Jeremy Wladis is with us. Jeremy, I'm happy you're here. Thanks very much for joining us. Tell us where you were, what you experienced?

JEREMY WLADIS: I was on the last car, about the middle of the last car, the right side or the eastern side of the train. And I take the train every week for work. We're -- restaurants in D.C. and New York. And I was just sitting there and I was doing some work. I had my tablet out. I was talking to a colleague across the aisle. And the next thing, we're just sitting there and you feel this, really, boom. And you don't think that much except that the train doesn't bump and then the next thing is a really harder shake. And then, by the third time, you knew there was -- the train was derailing.

BLITZER: So, you had boarded the train in Washington.

WLADIS: Yes.

BLITZER: You get -- you're opening up a new restaurant in Silver Spring, Maryland.

WLADIS: Yes, we're --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So, you're going from Washington. You just go to Philadelphia. Then, all of a sudden, this happens. You're on your way back to Penn Station here in New York, right?

WLADIS: Yes, I take the train every week because we have Fuel Pizzas in D.C., and we -- also, we're building an A.G. Kitchen which we have in New York.

BLITZER: All right. So, you're in the seat and you feel this and what -- are you thrust up? What happens?

WLADIS: At first, you just -- you're -- you feel a bump and you don't really feel these type of bumps on a train. And the second bump, you kind of felt really a herky (ph) jerk reaction. And by the third one, you knew and you felt the train was sliding. You know, it was going -- you felt like it was going to go completely over. And our particular car did not go over. But things started flying like bags, coats, purses, shoes, laptops, cell phones were just flying in the air. While, literally you could see and you're kind of like ducking and bracing yourself, holding on. And it all happened so fast. You remember and think, like, it took forever.

And even a couple bodies, a couple women, were thrust into the overhead baggage compartments during this. You heard metal crushing. You heard, you know, brakes. You smelled rubber. As all this is going on and you're wondering it if you're really -- you know, what's going to happen and you're kind of wondering what's going to come out and bludgeon you or whatever. It is -- I mean, from what I felt and what I saw, I can't believe how many of us walked away. I mean, I really feel like I'm luckiest guy in the world. BLITZER: How are you doing right now? I mean, were you bruised at

all? Were you hurt?

WLADIS: I'm a little shaken, a little bruised, a little headache, a little tired. But, in general, I'm pretty darn healthy.

BLITZER: That cabin was pretty full, the car you were in?

[13:10:00] WLADIS: No, probably 30 or 40 people, I guess, give or take a few either way. I had just taken a walk about, give or take, 10 minutes before all the way through the train, which I do on my weekly trips to exercise kind of. And, you know, when I walked, it did -- it felt shaky but they do frequently. So, I have no idea about this --

BLITZER: But you didn't get a sense the train was going speeding -- going faster than normal?

WLADIS: You know, I thought about it, but I thought about it other times. So, I don't know, you know -- the trains go pretty fast.

BLITZER: Yes.

WLADIS: And, you know, it was a horrific thing and I'm so -- I feel so bad for the people that got much more hurt and those who didn't survive and their families.

BLITZER: Clearly, you were very lucky and --

WLADIS: So lucky.

BLITZER: -- other people were as well. Jeremy Wladis, thanks very much for coming in.

WLADIS: Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you for sharing your story. We're going to have much more coverage of the breaking news coming up, including a deeper look at what may have caused the Amtrak train to derail. We'll ask a former NTSB managing director how the investigation is playing out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story, the crash of an Amtrak passenger train in Philadelphia. At least six people killed, more than 200 injured. Joining us now is Peter Goelz, our CNN Aviation Analyst, the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. Peter, what's your first reaction when you see the pictures of the derailed train?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, you're going to look at over speed because in a derailment accident such as this, you look at the first car that derailed. And in this case, it was the engine that appears to have come off the tracks first, then followed by the remaining six cars. [13:15:11] So you're going to look at the speed restriction on that

turn was 50 miles an hour. They're going to take a look at this event recorder and they're going to see what the speed was. I think we're going to hear some pretty definitive statements at the NTSB press conference tonight.

BLITZER: When - well, give us a sense of what do you think we're going to hear?

GOELZ: Well, I'm afraid that this train might have been going too fast for this turn. I mean they'll also look at - at - start to look at the track condition. Was it crossing a switching area? Were the switches and signalization correct? But the first thing they're going to look at was how fast was this train going for the track that it was on?

BLITZER: And if it was going, Peter, too fast around that curve, is that a human error, the conductor, the engineer, or is it some other problem potentially?

GOELZ: Well, it could be any number of things, but you start with human performance. You know, was - was the conductor, was the engineer operating the train appropriately leading up to the turn? Was he applying the brakes appropriately? Was there any kind of failure in the braking system that would have prevented him from entering the turn at the correct speed? Those will - you know, the event recorder will help explain that, as will the interview with the engineer. But you start with the first car that exited the rails.

BLITZER: The crash has, again, raised the issue of what's called a positive train control system. Tell our viewers what that is because it's been seriously considered but hasn't been implemented.

GOELZ: Well, it is a - it's a system that would be on the tracks - and it's on much of the northeast corridor. It apparently is not on this section of the northeast corridor - that would monitor the speeds of the train and would automatically break them if an unsafe condition occurred, if there was going to be a collision, if it was an over speed situation. It's enormously expensive and it's complex.

But the NTSB has mandated it. The Department of Transportation has mandated it. And the Congress has mandated it. And industry is trying desperately to put it in place, but it's proven to be a challenge. In this case, we would want to ask, why wasn't it operative in this section of the northeast corridor?

BLITZER: And as you say, the coming hours we're going to learn a whole lot more.

Peter Goelz, thanks very much for joining us.

Up next, the economics of rail safety. Congress debating Amtrak's budget, improvements to the nation's rail system. I'll talk about that and more with Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, he's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:21:27] BLITZER: We continue to follow the breaking news out of Philadelphia. Investigators looking closely at speed as a possible factor in last night's deadly Amtrak derailment based on the amount of damage and the way the wreckage was thrown. The derailment has cast new light on Amtrak operations and on federal funding. Unrelated to the tragedy, the House Appropriations Committee is today debating transportation funding for 2016. Members offered their condolences while New York Congressman Steve Israel, a Democrat, offered this rebuke to his colleagues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: They expect us to watch over their safety when they get on trains, when they are on planes, when they're in cars and highways. And last night we failed them. We failed to invest in their safety. We failed to make their safety a priority.

What we should have been doing is subsidizing the safety of those passengers on that Amtrak train yesterday. And so this is just a matter of simple priorities. Thoughts are wonderful, prayers are critically important, but priorities are important as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Already today the committee voted down an amendment that would have raised funding for Amtrak improvements. Joining us now from Capitol Hill is Maryland Democrat Senator Ben Cardin. He's the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Also a key member of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee.

Two of Amtrak's busiest stations, senator, are in your state. So what's your reaction when you saw the horrendous scene that we all witnessed last night?

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D), MARYLAND: Wolf, it's tragic. It's a train that many of us ride. It's a very popular route. It's the most popular route in our country, the northeast corridor. Hundreds of thousands of people travel on it daily to commute to work. Tens of thousands are on Amtrak.

This is a - we can all relate to what happened. Any one of us could have been on those trains. So, you know, our prayers and our thoughts do go out to the families of those who were killed or injured as a result of it. And, obviously, we want to know what happened and we want to make sure that we take steps so this never happens again.

BLITZER: I know you take that train a lot between Union Station and Washington and Baltimore, where you live. And then when you go to New York, you take that Amtrak train as well.

Republicans, they've been pushing for a nearly 20 percent cut in funding for Amtrak. But in March, the House did pass what's called a passenger rail and reform act, which raised Amtrak funding over the next four years. There's still no vote, though, in the Senate. You're a senator. Where does the bill stand? CARDIN: Well, Wolf, let's be direct about it. We have not been

investing in transportation infrastructure at the level that we should in this country. When you look at what our industrial nations of the world are spending on their transportation systems, on their rail systems, they're putting a lot more investment than we're putting in. We've got to (INAUDIBLE) modernize our system. The Amtrak system, those rails go back over a hundred years. We have a bridge, a tunnel that goes through Baltimore that was built in the 19th century. It's time that we invest in modernizing our system.

BLITZER: You know, the U.S., a lot of people watching us around the world, we know the U.S. spends billions of dollars in infrastructure development in countries all over the world. But what a lot of members are saying, what senators, representatives, not spending enough on infrastructure here in the United States, how do you fix that? How do you get a proper balance?

CARDIN: Well, you're exactly right. First, we don't know the cause of this particular incident, so we don't know whether it was speed or whether it was something to do with the infrastructure itself. But we do know that we haven't done enough on permanent financing for our infrastructure in this country.

[13:25:02] The first thing we need to do is pass a six year reauthorization to service transportation act. It's got to be at a level that we can make the type of improvements in our system that the American public really need and our economy needs. And then we have to make sure that we have the revenues to pay for that so we don't go into debt. And that's our responsibility. There's bipartisan support for this, so we should bring it up, let's vote on it. It's very timely because the current transportation fund runs out of authorization at the end of this month. We've got to act this month.

BLITZER: How do you reassure passengers, especially in the northeast, that it's safe to get on a train right now?

CARDIN: Well, I'm going to tell you this. We're going to find out what happened. We're going to make the investigation totally transparent so everyone knows exactly what happened. We're going to keep this investigation very public. I can assure you that this senator and our congressional delegation are going to insist upon safety standards being adhered to and the public being informed as the status at every step.

BLITZER: Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland joining us. Thank you, senator, very much.

CARDIN: Thank you. Thank you.

BLITZER: Up next, more on the breaking news this hour. We're going to get a live update of the scene from the deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)