The ruling revived the state’s case against Brandon Bostian, a former Amtrak engineer, who has been charged with more than 200 crimes, including eight counts of involuntary manslaughter.
A judge on Thursday reinstated charges against a former Amtrak engineer who was driving a speeding train that derailed in Philadelphia in 2015, killing eight people.
In his ruling, the judge, Victor P. Stabile of Pennsylvania Superior Court, found that a judge who had dismissed the charges last year improperly considered evidence that should be litigated at trial. Judge Stabile sent the case back to a trial court to be heard before a jury.
The ruling marked the latest twist in the state of Pennsylvania’s efforts to prosecute the former engineer, Brandon Bostian, on more than 200 charges, including one count of causing catastrophe and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Mr. Bostian, 37, was driving a Washington-to-New York train on May 12,2015, when he accelerated to a speed of 106 miles per hour as the train entered a curved section of track with a 50 m.p.h. speed limit. The train careened off the track and into Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neighborhood. More than 200 people were injured, in addition to the eight killed.
Investigators said Mr. Bostian had lost “situational awareness,” or knowledge of the train’s location, when he was distracted by radio transmissions from a nearby train that had been hit by a rock.
