Brandon Bostian’s trial in the 2015 Amtrak crash began Thursday

The engineer of the 2015 Amtrak crash in Frankford rejected a plea offer Thursday that could have spared him the possibility of spending years behind bars.

Instead, Brandon Bostian told a Philadelphia judge that he wanted a jury to decide if he was guilty of charges including causing a catastrophe, eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, and more than 200 counts of reckless endangerment.

The decision by Bostian, 38, marked the beginning of his trial over the fatal wreck, which left eight people dead and more than 200 injured. After Bostian rejected the offer, Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott moved forward with jury selection, a process expected to last most of the day Thursday.

Prosecutors have accused Bositan of causing the fatal derailment nearly seven years ago. He accelerated Train 188 to 106 mph — twice the speed limit — before a curve, an action the Attorney General’s Office contends was criminally reckless.

But Bostian’s lawyers have argued that the crash was a tragic mistake, calling Bostian an otherwise conscientious engineer who became disoriented while listening to radio chatter about rocks being thrown at nearby trains.

McDermott told Bostian Thursday that he’d been offered the opportunity to enter a “no contest” plea to nine counts of reckless endangerment, a close equivalent to pleading guilty. In return, McDermott said, prosecutors would have dropped all other charges, including the lead charge of causing a catastrophe, a felony.

She did not say if the plea came with a recommended sentence, but told Bostian that by rejecting it he was exposing himself to the potential of “more than a lifetime of incarceration.”

Bostian, without elaborating, said he’d considered the offer and decided against it.

His case has wound a twisted path through the criminal justice system — largely due to the question of whether his conduct amounted to a crime.

Judges have twice dismissed all charges, ruling that Bostian’s conduct was not clearly criminal, but prosecutors each time have successfully appealed and revived the case.

The AG’s Office has not said what sentence they might seek if Bostian is convicted on all counts at trial.

McDermott on Thursday morning began questioning prospective panelists. When she asked if any of them had heard about this case — a standard screening inquiry — nearly all of them indicated that they had.

Questioning was likely to last into the afternoon. Opening arguments, meanwhile, were expected to begin Friday morning.