The commuter train that derailed in New York City was traveling 82 mph as it went into a 30 mph curve according to preliminary information, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.
However, NTSB board member Earl Weener said it was too early to tell if human error or faulty equipment triggered the crash that killed four and injured dozens more early Sunday morning.
“That’s the question we need to answer,” Weener told an afternoon news conference.
Flanked by senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Weener also said the train was traveling too fast for the 70 mph zone it passed through moments before reaching the curve near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx on Metro-North’s Hudson Line.
The station is located at a sharp bend where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet. The train’s locomotive and some of its seven cars toppled over, leaving the lead cars inches from the water.
Weener said Monday that two data recorders had been recovered from the crash, and “low quality” surveillance footage, taken from a nearby bridge, was being examined. Drug and alcohol testing was performed on the train’s driver, though the results were not immediately available.
Schumer added that the track appeared to be in good condition, and authorities were not aware of any problems with the train’s brakes.
The train’s engineer, William Rockefeller, was being interviewed by the NTSB on Monday, and will be the subject of additional interviews “for the next couple of days,” Weener said.
On Monday, the New York Post, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Rockefeller insisted to investigators that he had tried to hit the brakes going into the bend, but they didn't work. The sources also described Rockefeller as a 20-year veteran of the MTA with a clean disciplinary record.
About 150 people were onboard the train when it veered off the tracks around 7:20 a.m.
In their efforts to find passengers, rescuers shattered windows, searched nearby woods and waters and used pneumatic jacks and air bags to peer under wreckage.
Passengers were removed from the wreck by authorities, with dozens bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times,” said a bloodied Joel Zaritsky, who was on his way to New York City for a dental convention.
“Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train."
The MTA Police Department identified the deceased Sunday as Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens, N.Y.; Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh, N.Y.; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, N.Y. and James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, N.Y. Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside, authorities said. Autopsies were scheduled for Monday, the New York City medical examiner's office said.
The accident was the latest mishap in a troubled year for Metro-North, which had never before experienced a passenger death during an accident in its 31-year history.
It came six months after an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Conn., and was struck by a westbound train. That crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
However, NTSB board member Earl Weener said it was too early to tell if human error or faulty equipment triggered the crash that killed four and injured dozens more early Sunday morning.
“That’s the question we need to answer,” Weener told an afternoon news conference.
Flanked by senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Weener also said the train was traveling too fast for the 70 mph zone it passed through moments before reaching the curve near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx on Metro-North’s Hudson Line.
The station is located at a sharp bend where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet. The train’s locomotive and some of its seven cars toppled over, leaving the lead cars inches from the water.
Weener said Monday that two data recorders had been recovered from the crash, and “low quality” surveillance footage, taken from a nearby bridge, was being examined. Drug and alcohol testing was performed on the train’s driver, though the results were not immediately available.
Schumer added that the track appeared to be in good condition, and authorities were not aware of any problems with the train’s brakes.
The train’s engineer, William Rockefeller, was being interviewed by the NTSB on Monday, and will be the subject of additional interviews “for the next couple of days,” Weener said.
On Monday, the New York Post, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Rockefeller insisted to investigators that he had tried to hit the brakes going into the bend, but they didn't work. The sources also described Rockefeller as a 20-year veteran of the MTA with a clean disciplinary record.
About 150 people were onboard the train when it veered off the tracks around 7:20 a.m.
In their efforts to find passengers, rescuers shattered windows, searched nearby woods and waters and used pneumatic jacks and air bags to peer under wreckage.
Passengers were removed from the wreck by authorities, with dozens bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times,” said a bloodied Joel Zaritsky, who was on his way to New York City for a dental convention.
“Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train."
The MTA Police Department identified the deceased Sunday as Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens, N.Y.; Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh, N.Y.; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, N.Y. and James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, N.Y. Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside, authorities said. Autopsies were scheduled for Monday, the New York City medical examiner's office said.
The accident was the latest mishap in a troubled year for Metro-North, which had never before experienced a passenger death during an accident in its 31-year history.
It came six months after an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Conn., and was struck by a westbound train. That crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.