Speeding Amtrak driver called for train safety technology on curves like one he drove into at 102mph and had been 'obsessed by trains' from childhood

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The driver of the train which crashed in Philadelphia and killed eight people posted in online forums for years about the need for improved rail safety.

Brandon Bostian complained that the technology to stop accidents had been around for 80 years but was not widely installed - including on the curve where he crashed.

He also wrote that train drivers should not work longer hours as they could end up falling asleep and 'killing dozens or hundreds of people'.

The posts emerged after the horrific crash on Tuesday night which led to Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter branding Bostian 'reckless'. 

Mr Bostian's lawyer has said that he does not remember anything of the crash, which happened when he went off the rails at 102mph on a 50mph curve, injuring more than 200 people.

Over the years Bostian made dozens of posts on industry website Trainorders.com that were linked to him by the New York Times. The forum confirmed he had made them.

In 2009 he commented on a debate about whether a train engineer should stop for a new crew once he reached his 10 hour working limit.

Bostian bristled at the idea and said that the rules were there for a reason.

He wrote: 'Everyone wants an extension to hours of service to avoid inconvenience, but what will you say when the crew that's been on duty for longer than 12 hours accidentally falls asleep and passes a stop signal and rear-ends a loaded hazmat train, killing dozens or hundreds of people?

'A crew is probably not any less safe after 12 hours and one minute than they were a few moments ago, but you have to draw that line somewhere.'

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Lifelong dream: Friends say Brandon Bostian had always wanted to be an engineer and working for Amtrak (he was a conductor first, above, and is pictured at St Louis, MO) was the fulfillment of his ambitions

Train obsessed: As a teenager in a suburb of Memphis Brandon Bostian was interested in trains. according to a long-time friend who worked with him at a local newspaper

Closer look: Brandon Bostian was at the controls of Amtrak locomotive 601, which was heading train 188, a North East Corridor regional train service from Washington Union Station to New York Penn Station

Forthright: How Brandon Bostian posted about online safety on a railroad discussion forum about positive train control (PTC), which would have prevented the Philadelphia disaster

In a discussion in 2011 he talked about the 'Positive Train Control' system which was first mooted in the 1920s and has been available since the 1980s

However it has not been installed on all of the Washington to Boston line, which includes the site of the crash near Philadelphia, even though it is the busiest train route in North America.

The failure to install PTC has become one of the key issues facing Amtrak in the wake of the crash.

Experts have said that had PTC been installed, the crash would not have happened as the speed would have automatically been cut.

On the forum Bostian tore into the National Transportation Safety Board, which is now investigating his own accident, and said that they were operating in a 'regulatory vacuum'.

He wrote: ‘At any point over the previous EIGHTY years the railroad could have voluntarily implemented some form of this technology on the line where that fateful wreck took place.

'I wish the railroads had been more proactive in adopting active signaling systems from the get-go

'The reality is that they have had nearly a hundred years of opportunity to implement SOME sort of system to mitigate human error, but with a few notable exceptions have failed to do so.'

Bostian was highly active on numerous other Internet forums using the same online handle, bwb6df.

He was a regular contributor to Flyertalk.com, a commuter website, and offered advice and technical tips to people who asked questions in forums.

Family: Brandon Bostian and his mom, Betty Deene Bostian. She and his father M Gregory Bostian live in a suburb of Memphis where the Amtrak engineer was brought up

At school: Brandon Bostian takes part in the Model UN at Bartlett High School, Tennessee

Geeky: Friends said Brandon Bostian was 'geeky' and 'obsessed by trains' and would not get into a fist fight.

He also posted on gay news website towleroad.com about an advert used by Mitt Romney during the 2012 Presidential election and called it 'one of the most dishonest political ads I've ever seen'.

He wrote that Mr Romney and his running mates Paul Ryan were 'lying crooks 'and that Mr Ryan was an 'embarrassment'.

Mr Bostian, 32, was 'obsessed with trains' and wanted to drive one since he was a boy, said friend Stefanie Mcgee.

She said that it was his 'no.1 goal in life' to work for a train company and she could never imagine him doing anything to put that at risk.

Mcgee was the editor at the Bartlett Express, a Tennessee newspaper where Bostian worked in 2000 and 2001 before going to college. 

She said that he was a 'tall, awkward high school kid' who never turned down an assignment and was fond of puns.

She said: 'He loved trains, he's always loved trains. That was his thing.

'He loved riding on trains, he would tell us about them. There was a major train line through the town and he knew all about it.

'He knew about train timetables, the trains, everything.'

Family love: A tribute to Brandon Bostian in a high-school yearbook from his parents. They are attorneys in Memphis, TN. Bostian has lived in New York since becoming an Amtrak engineer

Past: Brandon Bostian (pictured left while working as a cashier for Target) used to live in Memphis, and graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2006. He now lives in Queens, New York

Focus: The train line through the center of Memphis suburb Bartlett which Brandon Bostian was interested in as a teen. He knew all the train times.

Mcgee, who is now the clerk of the city of Bartlett, a suburb of Memphis, said that when Bostian went to New York he came back raving about the subway and the Empire State Building.

He even brought a map back as if it was a souvenir.

She said: 'Driving a train was his dream. When he got to drive a train he was living his dream, it was his dream come true.

'That was his no.1 goal in life. He put his mind to it and that was it.'

Jason Vawter, a friend of his from second grade through high school said: 'He's a genius. That dude was obsessed with trains and he had tons of them. I don't think I've ever known anyone in my life who followed through like that.

'He's one of the nicest people I've ever known. He was the kind of kid you'd never see in a fist fight, the kind of kid who would stand up for somebody else. He's just a nice dude.'

Bostian was a year ahead of Vawter when they attended Altruria Elementary, Elmore Park Middle School and Bartlett High School where Bostian graduated in 2001.

Bostian studied at the University of Missouri-Columbia, College of Business, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management in 2006.

He was born in St Louis, Missouri, but moved to Memphis, Tennessee when he was young.

He is currently living in Forest Hills in New York city and has been described as a gay activist.

Bostian's mother Betty Deene , 53, is a lawyer and his father Max Greg, also 53, is a business consultant and former accountant who was a combat engineer officer in the Army in his youth.

Other friends of Bostian told Daily Mail Online that they are stunned he could have been responsible for the crash.

They said that he was always careful at work and was proud to wear the Amtrak uniform.

Boastian had also been active in gay rights, attending a campaign event in New York in 2012 for same-sex marriage, the Midtown Gazette reported.

'It's kind of insulting to have to beg people for my right to marry. I feel like we shouldn't even have to have this fight,' he told the newspaper, which said he had been active in campaigning against Proposition 8 in California, which sought to prevent gay marriage in the state.

Brandon Bostian with friends - one of them wearing an Amtrak jacket - at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, where the doomed Amtrak Train 188 departed from on Tuesday night

Profile: One of the pictures Brandon Bostian posted on social media. Today friends on Facebook sent him messages saying they were praying for him

Bostian, who has been an engineer with Amtrak since 2009, was interviewed by the police over six hours yesterday, had a blood sample taken and has handed his cell phone over to authorities. 

His lawyer, Robert Goggin, told ABC News that Bostian suffered leg injuries and a concussion and needed 14 staples to his head following the crash. He said he 'has absolutely no recollection of the event' - but said he can hopefully reveal more once he recovers and his memory returns.

'He remembers driving the train,' Goggin said. 'He remembers going to that area generally, [but] has absolutely no recollection of the incident or anything unusual. The next thing he recalls is being thrown around, coming to, finding his bag, getting his cell phone and dialing 911.' 

Investigators say that just before the crash, the emergency brake was applied - sending the speed to 102 mph - but Goggin said his client does not remember using the brake.

In favor of safety: Trainorders.com named Brandon Bostian as the person behind username bwb6df. In 2009 he warned that train crews need to have regulated hours

He added that Bostian has not given any explanation for why he was traveling so fast.

'No drink, no drugs, no medical condition' were at play, he said. 'Nothing.'

Bostian's cell phone was also off and in his bag, as required by Amtrak's rules, he said.

'I can give you nothing at this point,' Goggin said. 'We'll have to wait for his memory to come back.' 

Robert Sumwalt of the NTSB said that they have not yet contacted Bostian for an interview but that they intended to do so over the next few days.

'We're certainly concerned and very interested that the train was going that fast,' he told the Today show. 'We're very interested in that...

'We want to understand what was going on. We want to understand why the train was operated that way. Was it a mechanical issue? Was it some sort of human issue? That's what we're here to do.'

He said the NTSB aims to contact Bostian through his lawyer after he has regained his memory but before those memories begin to change. 

On social media today friends of Bostian said they were praying for him and a fellow Amtrak employee said: 'Yes, it happened to you but it could have been any one of us and you are not alone.'

Another said: 'Every day, you will get stronger and stronger. And just remember that your Amtrak family is here for you Brother.'