New York train was overspeeding before derailment: Investigation
5 Dec 2013 5:01 AM IST
They said black-box recorders recovered from the train showed it had been traveling at 82 miles per hour (132 kph) before entering the 30-mile-per-hour (48-kph) curve. The recorders showed the train’s brakes were applied ‘very late in the game,’ National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener told reporters. He said that the NTSB was investigating driver error as a possible cause of the crash, but had not yet ruled out other possibilities. NTSB officials did not indicate how long their review would take.
Sunday’s crash, in which 11 people were also critically injured, snarled travel on Monday for the roughly 26,000 people who normally ride Metro-North’s Hudson line serving suburbs north of New York City. It was the latest in a string of problems to affect the railroad, including a May derailment in Connecticut that injured more than 70 people. The NTSB’s Weener said the train was speeding even before it entered the curve as the posted speed limit on the straightaway is 70 miles per hour (112 kph). A freight train derailed in the same place in July. US Senator Charles Schumer of New York said he had been stunned to learn how fast the Metro-North commuter train was going before the derailment.
Sunday’s crash, in which 11 people were also critically injured, snarled travel on Monday for the roughly 26,000 people who normally ride Metro-North’s Hudson line serving suburbs north of New York City. It was the latest in a string of problems to affect the railroad, including a May derailment in Connecticut that injured more than 70 people. The NTSB’s Weener said the train was speeding even before it entered the curve as the posted speed limit on the straightaway is 70 miles per hour (112 kph). A freight train derailed in the same place in July. US Senator Charles Schumer of New York said he had been stunned to learn how fast the Metro-North commuter train was going before the derailment.
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