The FBI said it is looking into evidence that may indicate the windshield of an Amtrak train was hit with an object shortly before it derailed in Philadelphia earlier this week.

Investigators said the New York-bound train was traveling at 106 mph through a curve with a 50-mph speed limit when it derailed on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring over 200 others, reported The Wall Street Journal.

During a press conference on Friday, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt announced the possibility that the Amtrak windshield may have been hit with a projectile, which may have either distracted, frightened or wounded the engineer just moments before the train derailment, reported The Associated Press.

Sumwalt said the revelation came from an assistant conductor, who recalled hearing Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian speaking with another engineer about how both of their trains were hit by an object.

The NTSB added there also was another south-bound Amtrak train that had a window shattered in the same area around the same time.

After the NTSB interviewed Bostian for the first time, Sumwalt said the 32-year-old engineer was "extremely cooperative." However, he told authorities that he did not remember anything in the minutes before the crash.

While the NTSB continues to investigate the case, President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for additional funding to repair and update old rails and bridges.

Some elected officials even argue that the derailment could have been prevented if the train track was equipped with a positive train control system that would automatically put the brakes on a train exceeding the speed limit. Amtrak is scheduled to install the new control system on all of its tracks by the end of 2015. However, for now, engineers will continue to have to rely on their own knowledge and a printed timetable that tells them when to yield the trains, rather than sophisticated signals.