philadelphia - The Amtrak train that derailed Tuesday night leaving 7 dead, and at least 200 hurt was traveling at 106 miles an hour, twice the authorized speed as it curved around a sharp bend in the tracks, according to people close to the investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board evealed that information at a press conference Wednesday. As the twisted wreckage that had been a passenger train rumbling toward New York was pored over by investigators Wednesday, authorities notified families of seven people killed and tried to account for others who may have been on board. After the body of a seventh victim was pulled from the wreckage Wednesday, rail cars strewn helter-skelter beside the tracks in Philadelphia were being cleared by yellow front-end loaders. Though that was an indication that investigators were confident that no more passengers were trapped or lay dead in some parts of the crumpled aftermath, firefighters continued to pick through sections of the crushed cars. Some relatives sought public help as they searched for missing passengers, and others went to hospitals where about 200 injured riders were taken. At least eight of them were reported in critical condition. The challenge for authorities was in matching passenger records, determining whether people listed were actually on the train, and accounting for people who may have used 10-trip passes to board, bypassing the passenger manifest. “We have not completely matched the manifest from Amtrak with the patient and hospital information,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D). “That is a very tedious process.” The wreck, which occurred about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, shut down train service along parts of the busy northeast corridor. Hundreds of would-be rail passengers rushed to airports instead. Among those killed was a Naval Academy midshipman. According to family members, Justin Zemzer, 21, was on leave and headed to his home in Rockaway Beach, N.Y. The Associated Press said that a member of its staff, video software architect Jim Gaines, 48, was also among the dead. He was returning home to Plainsboro, N.J., after a meeting in Washington. Among those said to be missing is Rachel Jacobs, 39, chief executive of Philadelphia-based ApprenNet, a technology firm specializing in teacher training. When reached by phone, a member of her family said they were still looking for her. Officials said 243 passengers and five crew members were on the train when it jumped the tracks about two hours after it left D.C.’s Union Station bound for New York. The accident occurred minutes after the train departed Philadelphia’s 30th Street station at a place where the rail line takes a sharp left turn, less than 90 degrees, but sharp by railroad standards, before starting on an unfettered open run toward northern New Jersey and New York. The speed with which the train rounded that bend will be the first question investigators want answered. Trains are limited to 50 mph until they are clear of it. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has no direct knowledge of the crash, said “obviously we know that excessive speed appears to be the reason but we don’t know why [the train was speeding.]” Investigators will get an unequivocal answer to that question from the data recorder on the train, which was sent to a lab for analysis. Though they most likely have already received that speed data, authorities had no immediate comment. Trains are equipped with cameras and sensitive data recorders, akin to the so-called black boxes on aircraft, that measure factors such as speed. Another incident under scrutiny by investigators involved damage to a local subway train running on tracks shared with Amtrak about the same time the passenger train derailed. A spokewoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) said that a SEPTA train was struck by some type of projectile that cracked the engineer’s windshield at 9:25 p.m. That train stopped without incident about three miles from the derailment site. “There’s nothing to indicate they were related,” said SEPTA’s Jerri Williams. Amtrak made several changes to its popular northeast regional train service after the derailment, including canceling service between Philadelphia and New York. Trains between Washington and Philadelphia were running on a modified schedule. Amtrak said the changes could last throughout the week. The city of Philadelphia and all other entities involved in determining the cause of the derailment have been made “parties to the investigation” by the NTSB. That means they have signed an agreement with the federal investigative agency that limits what they are permitted to say publicly. The NTSB has full control of the investigation and has, in the past, shut out access to key partners who leaked information in violation of that agreement. Piecing together the precise cause of the incident could take several months. Several federal and state lawmakers expressed their condolences and said they would follow through in checking safety measures on the rail service. “An absolute disastrous mess,” is how Philadelphia’s Nutter described the scene at a news conference late Tuesday. He said about 150 people “self-evacuated” from the train. From the track bed northeast of the crash site, it was possible to see dozens of rescue and recovery workers in yellow and orange fluorescent vests examining the wreckage. Train cars lay tilted next to the tracks beside the curve in the railway. The tracks themselves appeared to be intact in at least some areas near the crash, where a recovery vehicle was stationed. Green Amtrak recovery vehicles were being driven into the site, and police manned all access points. The section of railway where the crash occurred is surrounded by industrial buildings, scrap yards and car body repair businesses. Eight passengers were said to be critically injured. None of the names of those who died has been released. The White House released a statement from President Obama on Wednesday offering his condolences to the families of those killed in the derailment. “Along with Americans across our country, Michelle and I were shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the derailment aboard Amtrak Train 188,” the president said in the statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those we lost last night.” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that “the president has been a leading advocate, with strong input from the vice president, in investing in our infrastructure, including in investing in high-speed rail, especially in the transportation corridors that are plagued with pretty bad traffic. “But there’s been a concerted effort by Republicans to stand in front of those kinds of advancements,” Earnest added. Vice President Biden, who commuted regularly as a U.S. senator from Wilmington, Del., via Amtrak, also released a statement Wednesday: “Amtrak is like a second family to me, as it is for so many other passengers. For my entire career, I’ve made the trip from Wilmington to Washington and back. I’ve come to know the conductors, engineers, and other regulars. ... Our thoughts are with every person who is grieving right now from this terrible tragedy. As a nation, we pray for the victims and their families.” Herbert Cushing, chief medical officer at Temple University Hospital, said 25 passengers from the train were at the hospital early Wednesday. A total of 146 people were treated at Temple and other hospitals. He said the sixth person died overnight. Cushing also said the victims died of “massive chest injuries.” He said the passengers aboard the train were from around the world, including Spain, India and Albania. Many suffered limb injuries, he said. The U.S. Naval Academy released a statement Wednesday regarding Zemser’s death in the derailment: “I speak for the entire brigade of midshipmen, faculty and staff in saying we are completely heartbroken by this,” said Cmdr. John Schofield, a spokesman for the academy. The academy’s sprint football team Web site says that Zemser was a captain of his high school football team in New York and was elected student government president. Amtrak carries nearly 32 million passengers a year. Of that, more than a third, roughly 11.4 million passengers, use its northeast corridor service between Washington, New York and Boston, according to its Web site. New York and Washington’s Union Station are Amtrak’s two busiest stations. There was at least one other major passenger train accident in the Philadelphia area. In 1943, a train traveling from Washington to New York with 541 passengers went off the tracks, killing 79 passengers. In Amtrak’s deadliest crash, 47 people were killed near Mobile, Ala., in 1993 after the train careened off a bridge and fell into a bayou. An average of 31 Amtrak trains have derailed each year since 2006, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. There have been nine Amtrak derailments so far this year, the agency said. (Source: The Washington Post)