1. His dispatcher was pressuring him to make up some time
2. He wasn't paying attention and screwed up
3. Brakes failed
#1 does not happen in the business of railroading the way you think... especially on the NEC.
The brakes didn’t fail. He applied them just before the crash and the passengers have stated they felt the train braking just before the crash.
if the brakes failed that would have been the first thing out of his mouth..he would have said “Something went wrong with the train, I think the brakes failed” instead he said he cant remember how fast he was going and lawyered up