New York train was going 82mph when it hit 30mph-limit curve and derailed, investigators reveal

  • Following the derailment, officials warned 26,000 commuters would be affected this week on the nation's second-biggest commuter line
  • Locomotive of the Metro-North train was hoisted back onto the track at 4.20am on Monday
  • Investigators are considering whether excessive speed, mechanical problems or human error played a role in the crash
  • Four people killed and 60 injured in the Sunday morning crash

By Associated Press

PUBLISHED: 14:08 EST, 2 December 2013 | UPDATED: 15:00 EST, 3 December 2013


A train that derailed in New York City was traveling 82 mph as it approached a 30 mph zone, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday.

The Metro-North Railroad commuter train jumped the tracks on Sunday morning along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops from 70 mph to 30 mph. Four passengers died and 67 were injured. 

Investigators on Monday mined the train's data recorders, shedding light on such things as the train's speed and the use of its brakes. NTSB member Earl Weener said that he was unaware of any problem with the train's brakes.

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Cranes salvage the last car from from a train derailment in the Bronx section of New York on Monday. A detailed investigation is now underway to determine the cause of the crash in which four people died

Cranes salvage the last car from from a train derailment in the Bronx section of New York on Monday. A detailed investigation is now underway to determine the cause of the crash in which four people died

Workers stand near cranes at the Metro-North train derailment site in the Bronx borough of New York as they continued to deal with the wreckage on Monday

Workers stand near cranes at the Metro-North train derailment site in the Bronx borough of New York as they continued to deal with the wreckage on Monday

Workers walk past a Metro-North train car that was damaged in a derailment in the Bronx section of New York on Monday

Workers walk past a Metro-North train car that was damaged in a derailment in the Bronx section of New York on Monday

Earl Weener from the National Transportation Safety Board told a news conference on Monday afternoon that the train had been traveling 82mph just seconds before it entered a 30mph curve in New York

Earl Weener from the National Transportation Safety Board told a news conference on Monday afternoon that the train had been traveling 82mph just seconds before it entered a 30mph curve in New York

 

The investigators have also sought to question the engineer and conductor for clues.

The rail employees union says engineer William Rockefeller, who has been in service since 1999, was injured in the wreck and is cooperating with investigators. He and three other crew members will continue to be interviewed in the coming days.

Mr Weener also said at a news conference on Monday afternoon that six seconds before the crash the throttle went idle and one second later, the brakes dropped from 120PSI on the pressure gauge to zero. However, he was reluctant to be drawn on what this information meant so early in the investigation.

However Mr Weener did say that the train made nine stops on its route from Poughkeepsie before it derailed and there appeared to be no problem with the brake system.

According to the New York Times, an MTA official said Mr Rockefeller told investigators he 'dumped the brakes'.

Grady C. Cothen, a retired federal railroad regulator, told the Times this was typically a last resort move which causes the emergency brakes to slam on all wheels at once.

It is often used for avoiding collisions but if this was what it had occurred, it was 'an act of considerable alarm', Mr Cothen added.

The NTSB also said on Monday that it was hoping to improve the quality of surveillance footage that had been taken from the bridge to aid their investigation.

The engineer had turned over his cell phone to be forensically analyzed, to see if it played a role in the crash.

Toppled rail cars were righted on Monday as an exhaustive investigation continued into what caused the commuter train rounding a riverside curve to derail. 

Cranes lift a derailed Metro-North train car on Monday, December 2 in the Bronx borough of New York. An exhaustive investigation has began into what caused a New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve to derail, killing four people

Cranes lift a derailed Metro-North train car on Monday, December 2 in the Bronx borough of New York. An exhaustive investigation has began into what caused a New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve to derail, killing four people

Work continues at the site of a fatal train derailment at the Spuyten Duyvil Station in the Bronx. Some cars and the locomotive have already been uprighted

Work continues at the site of a fatal train derailment in New York. Some cars and the locomotive have already been up-righted as emergency crews worked through the night into Monday

Officials warned the 26,000 weekday riders on the affected line of the nation's second-biggest commuter railroad to brace for crowded trains during the morning commute. Shuttle buses were being provided. 

Railroad spokesman Aaron Donovan said no major delays were reported during the early part of the rush hour on Monday.

'We'd like to get service up toward the end of the week,' Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

The locomotive of the Metro-North train was hoisted back onto the track at 4.20am, and two cranes were in the process of lifting the tilted car that was connected to the locomotive, Donovan said.

About 150 people were on board when the train derailed Sunday morning on Metro-North's Hudson line. Donovan said the railroad believed everyone aboard has been accounted for.

 

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The National Transportation Safety Board said its investigators could spend up to ten days probing all aspects of the accident that toppled seven cars and the locomotive, leaving the lead car only inches from the water at a bend in the Bronx where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet.

The NTSB said it would consider whether excessive speed, mechanical problems or human error played a role in the crash.

Cuomo said on NBC's Today show that he thinks speed will turn out to be a factor. The governor, speaking from the crash site for a second day, said other possible factors ranged from equipment failure and operator failure to a track problem.

'It was actually much worse than it looked,' Governor Cuomo said.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) inspectors check the train tracks today ahead of where the train came off the rails

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) inspectors check the train tracks today ahead of where the train came off the rails

Teams of emergency responders were working to right the carriages and move them from the tracks so that service could resume on the busy Metro-North line

Teams of emergency responders were working to right the carriages and move them from the tracks so that service could resume on the busy Metro-North line

Machinery clears soil next to a derailed Metro-North train car as the investigation continues into the derailment on a tight bend

A digger clears soil next to a derailed Metro-North train car as the investigation continues into the derailment on a tight bend

Authorities continue to work at the site of a fatal train derailment where four people lost their lives and dozens more were injured on Sunday

Authorities continue to work at the site of a fatal train derailment where four people lost their lives and dozens more were injured on Sunday

'As the cars were skidding across the ground, they were actually picking up a lot of debris, a lot of dirt and stones and tree limbs were going through the cars so it actually looked worse up close,' he said, calling it 'your worst nightmare'.

It 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.

As deadly as the derailment was, the toll could have been far greater had it happened on a weekday, or had the lead car plunged into the water instead of nearing it.

The train was about half-full at the time of the crash, rail officials said.

Joel Zaritsky, who was dozing as he traveled to a dental convention, awoke to feel his car overturning several times.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department Emergency Sevice Unit, work amongst the debris from yesterday's fatal passenger train derailment near the Spuyten Duyvil, Metro-North train station

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department Emergency Sevice Unit, work amongst the debris from yesterday's fatal passenger train derailment near the Spuyten Duyvil, Metro-North train station

Cranes lift a derailed Metro North train car on Monday as they started an exhaustive investigation into what caused a New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve to derail, killing four people and injuring more than 60 others

Cranes lift a derailed Metro North train car on Monday as they started an exhaustive investigation into what caused a New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve to derail, killing four people and injuring more than 60 others

Because of a train derailment in the Bronx on Sunday, Metro-North commuters switch from the train to shuttle buses in Yonkers, New York on Monday

Because of a train derailment in the Bronx on Sunday, Metro-North commuters switch from the train to shuttle buses in Yonkers, New York on Monday

'Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming,' he told The Associated Press, holding his bloody right hand.

FEARS OVER TRAVEL CHAOS ON AMERICA'S SECOND-BIGGEST COMMUTER LINE

New York City's northern suburbs faced travel delays on Monday, the day after a seven-car train derailment.

A portion of a Metro-North Railroad line between the Bronx and part of Westchester County could be closed for a week or more after the accident on Sunday.

Service was suspended on the railroad's Hudson line, which serves 26,000 commuters on an average weekday, between the village of Tarrytown and Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal, according to the state's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the parent company of Metro-North.

The MTA was providing bus service as an alternative, and urged Westchester County residents to use its Harlem line.

'There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train.'

NTSB board member Earl Weener said on Sunday the agency had just begun its investigation and hadn't yet spoken to the train's engineer, who was among the injured.

The speed limit on the curve is 30 mph, compared with 70 mph in the area approaching it, Weener said. Authorities did not yet know how fast the train was traveling but found a data recorder.

One passenger, Frank Tatulli, told WABC-TV that the train appeared to be going 'a lot faster' than usual as it approached the sharp curve near the Spuyten Duyvil station.

Nearby residents awoke to a building-shaking boom. Angel Gonzalez was in bed in his high-rise apartment overlooking the rail curve when he heard the roar.

'I thought it was a plane that crashed,' he said.

Within minutes, dozens of emergency crews arrived and carried passengers away on stretchers, some wearing neck braces.

Others, bloodied and scratched, held ice packs to their heads. 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.

The MTA identified the victims as Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring; James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose; and Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens.

The black box is removed from the derailed train by the National Transportation Safety Board as inspectors work to find the cause of the crash

The black box is removed from the derailed train by the National Transportation Safety Board as inspectors work to find the cause of the crash

Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was inside. Autopsies were scheduled for Monday.

Lovell, an audio technician, was traveling from his Cold Spring home to midtown Manhattan to work on the famed Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, longtime friend Janet Barton said. The tree-lighting ceremony is Wednesday night.

The Today show expressed condolences to the family of Mr Lovell, a married father of four who had worked on the program and other NBC shows.

'He always had a smile on his face and was quick to share a friendly greeting,' Today executive producer Don Nash said in a message to staff.

After visiting a hospital on Sunday evening, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters that 11 patients who originally were critical did not appear to have life-threatening injuries.


James Lovell, 58, a married father-of-four, was on his way to work on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting when he was killed in the train derailment

James Lovell, 58, a married father-of-four, was on his way to work on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting when he was killed in the train derailment

Kisook Ahn, a nurse from Queens, was killed in the NY train crash on Sunday
Donna Smith, from Newburgh, was one of the four victims who had been killed in the crash and identified

Kisook Ahn, a nurse from Queens (pictured left), and Donna Smith, from Newburgh, were also two of the four victims who had been killed in the crash and identified

 

Though the cause of the crash is not yet known, the NTSB has been urging railroads for decades to install technology that can stop derailing caused by excessive speed, along with other problems.

A rail-safety law passed by Congress in 2008 gave commuter and freight railroads until the end of 2015 to install the systems, known as positive train control. PTC is aimed at preventing human error - the cause of about 40 percent of train accidents.

But the systems are expensive and complicated. Railroads are trying to push back the installation deadline another five to seven years.

Metro-North is in the process of installing the technology. It now has what's called an 'automatic train control' signal system, which automatically applies the brakes if an engineer fails to respond to an alert that indicates excessive speed.

Such systems can slow trains in some circumstances but not bring them to a halt, said Grady Cothen, a former Federal Railroad Administration safety official.

Sunday's accident came six months after an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Conn., and was struck by a westbound train. The crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor. In July, a freight train full of garbage derailed on the same Metro-North line near the site of Sunday's wreckage.

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Other driver on his cell phone.

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So, in other words, wait until the NTSB has completed a full investigation before 'deciding' what happened. These accidents are seldom due to a single factor.

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I use the MTA trains regularly, both Metro North and the Subway. There are many good people who try to do their best. Unfortunately most of those in charge are over-paid political hacks and their relatives who know nothing about their industry and could care less. No up to date safety systems for fifty years! The blame does not rest solely with a single engineer. Given the primitive safety set-up, he could have been dead or incapacitated and the train would have still sped to its doom. Remember that four people died and others are maimed because funds went to spongers instead of infrastructure.

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I use the MTA trains regularly, both Metro North and the Subway. There are many good people who try to do their best. Unfortunately most of those in charge are over-paid political hacks and their relatives who know nothing about their industry and could care less. No up to date safety systems for fifty years! The blame does not rest solely with a single engineer. Given the primitive safety set-up, he could have been dead or incapacitated and the train would have still sped to its doom. Remember that four people died and others are maimed because funds went to spongers instead of infrastructure.

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Can someone build a smartphone application that can detect train speed and posted speed limits and then send a report to train management that on such and such date, time, location, etc, the Engineer was speeding? If each time it gets reported there will be no more speeding or person would be out of a job.

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Wasn't being driven by a Frenchman by any chance was it?

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You'll probably find if you dare investigate, that the poor driver was probably told to do this speed under pain of being sacked by his management to make up for poor timetables and inadequate maintenance of the rail structure. Trains in the US are apparently one of the worst maintained in the world.

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Bloody, damned lucky to have so few deaths. Those railway carriages are obviously well-built.

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My guess is that the guy was texting. Had the brakes failed, the system would have warned him in plenty of time and if he'd been having a problem earlier, he would have radioed it in and slowed down.

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Read it again. The throttle went to idle. The brake pressure dropped to near zero. Why are you trying to crucify the engineer .

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Retro rockets failed to fire!

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