Feds release files on GOP train crash ahead of final report

CROZET, Va. (AP) — Federal investigators have released nearly 100 documents that detail last year’s fatal accident between a trash truck and an Amtrak train that was carrying Republican lawmakers in Virginia.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said the information was made public Tuesday “in anticipation that a final report may be issued soon.”

The document release does not change the basics of what authorities say happened. The train had struck a trash truck that entered a railroad crossing after the safety gates had come down.

One of the truck’s passengers died. A congressman on the train suffered a concussion and others sustained minor injuries.

The documents include photos and interviews and preliminary reports on the January 2018 accident that occurred about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Washington in the town of Crozet.