The Nation - News from Feb. 2, 1988
An Amtrak switch operator who left his post after a derailment near Chester, Pa., Friday that injured 24 people surfaced and told investigators he “made a mistake and forgot” to switch the train to a clear track because he was distracted, an investigator said. Tom Connor, 30, met privately for 90 minutes with investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees. The switch operator then submitted to drug and alcohol tests in a hospital.
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