WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal investigators are re-interviewing three witnesses to last week's deadly Amtrak crash in Illinois who gave differing accounts of when a truck driver entered the train's path.
Evidence gathered from the scene disagrees with the driver's account of the accident, officials said.Bob Lauby, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board's rail division, said that investigators' initial report on the eyewitnesses did not reconcile the inconsistencies of their testimony to his satisfaction.
He said it is not clear whether they have slightly different stories, which he would not detail, because they did not see the entire incident, they have incomplete memories or some other reason.
A key question is whether the driver of the steel-laden tractor-trailer that the train hit 50 miles south of Chicago, killing 11, started into the railroad crossing after warning lights had started to flash.
An attorney for truck driver John R. Stokes has said his client did not cause the March 15 crash by attempting to go around the crossing gates and beat the oncoming train. But NTSB Chairman Jim Hall told a Senate panel looking into the accident that evidence suggests the truck driver did try to cross when the lights were flashing.
"We believe that the information and data we've collected so far tells a different story" from that of the driver, Hall said Thursday.
Hall also said a key part of the investigation will focus on whether Stokes' employer, Melco Transfer Inc., adequately monitored his driving record before allowing him to stay on the road. Ken Wykle, head of the Federal Highway Administration, said it appeared the company met all federal requirements.