At a news conference Wednesday evening, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said the train was traveling at approximately 106 mph when the engineer began braking, more than double the location’s speed limit of 50 mph. The last reading of the train’s recorders, after the engineer had begun emergency braking, showed the speed to be 102 mph.

Sumwalt added that although most of the Northeastern Corridor’s Amtrak rails are equipped with an advanced technology called “positive train control” that automatically slows trains moving too quickly, this bend was not. Had that portion of track been equipped with the safety mechanism, he said, “this accident would not have occurred.”

His words came hours after the House Appropriations Committee voted down a Democratic-backed amendment that would have provided $825 million to help install the technology.

Congress years ago set a Dec. 31 deadline for railroads to install positive train control, although lawmakers of both parties have proposed extending the time frame by three to five years amid complaints by railroads that they can’t meet the current deadline. The technology is on the NTSB’s “most-wanted list,” Sumwalt said.

It also rattled communities along the Northeast. The train was traveling from Washington to New York City, a well-trafficked route for commuting passengers, including lawmakers.

“We are heartbroken at what has happened here. We have not experienced anything like this in modern times,” Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said Wednesday morning during a press briefing.

President Barack Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of those who died.

“Along with Americans across our country, Michelle and I were shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the derailment aboard Amtrak Train 188,” he said in a statement. “Along the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is a way of life for many. From Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, to New York City and Boston, this is a tragedy that touches us all.”

Vice President Joe Biden called Amtrak “like a second family.”

“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 — men and women riding home to kiss their kids goodnight — as we passed the flickering lights of each neighborhood along the way,” the vice president said in a statement.

Former Philadelphia-area Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy was on the train during the 9:30 p.m. crash and tweeted that he had been helping others who were on board. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) had also been on the train but got off in Wilmington shortly before the derailment, according to his staff.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) blasted what he deemed Congress’ “failure to act” on the nation’s critical infrastructure issues during a floor speech Wednesday afternoon.

“We in Congress are failing to recognize the real-world impacts about the choices we make about our infrastructure,” said Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking subcommittee on housing, transportation and community development.

“Let’s not wait until we have another tragedy,” the New Jersey Democrat said.

Despite Tuesday night’s fatal crash, House Republicans voted Wednesday to chop about a fifth of Amtrak’s budget, a move that Democrats pointed to as a prime example of the dangers of shortchanging the nation’s transportation needs.

Democrats attacked the Appropriations Committee’s action on its $55 billion transportation and housing bill as an example of badly misplaced priorities. New York Rep. Steve Israel even alleged that while people expect Congress to look out for their safety, “last night we failed them.”

Republicans, however, said the cuts are necessary to stay under the spending cuts that Obama and Congress agreed to four years ago. Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson admonished the Democrats — Israel in particular — for trying to tie Tuesday’s crash to the spending debate “when you have no idea, no idea, what caused this accident.”

“Don’t use this tragedy in that way,” Simpson said, wagging his finger in a moment of visible anger. “It was beneath you.”

This year has seen a series of passenger rail accidents, including a rush-hour collision between a commuter train and an SUV that killed six people in Valhalla, New York, a deadly train-truck crash in Oxnard, California, and an Amtrak crash with a tractor-trailer in North Carolina that injured dozens of people. Railroad fatalities also have been on an upswing: Last year’s preliminary total of 813 deaths was 20 percent higher than just three years ago, partly reversing a sharp decline since the early 1990s, according to FRA statistics.

Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the country is experiencing a “crisis” in infrastructure, noting that it is more evidence that Congress needs to pass a multiyear bill.

“They need to have the kind of leadership and vision to step up, find the money and pass a six-year transportation bill. That’s what America needs right now,” he said.

Heather Caygle and Adam Lerner contributed to this report.