NTSB Advisory
National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
March 17, 1999

STATEMENT BY NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD
MEMBER JOHN GOGLIA
RELATED TO INVESTIGATION OF THE CRASH OF
AMTRAK TRAIN #59, BOURBONNAIS, ILLINOIS

Having met with Amtrak officials today I am satisfied with their efforts to reconcile the manifest of the City of New Orleans train involved in Monday night's fatal derailment. They have taken all necessary steps to ensure that the county Coroner and the Disaster Mortuary team responsible for identifying all fatalities have the necessary information to do their jobs.

The confusion associated with the number of missing victims was a result of data provided to the Safety Board that had not been recently updated and it would be inappropriate to leave the impression that Amtrak was failing in its duties to its passengers.

We will work with Amtrak to resolve any future issues that may arise relating to the passenger manifest.

NTSB Press Office: (202) 314-6100