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NTSB: Event recorder was not functioning on day of NJ Transit crash

Officials are hopeful the data recorder in the cab control car in the front of the train is functional, but investigators haven’t been able to extract that recorder because it’s under a collapsed section of the train station’s roof.

October 3, 2016
NTSB: Event recorder was not functioning on day of NJ Transit crash

NTSB

2 min to read


NTSB

HOBOKEN, N.J. — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that one event recorder recovered so far from the NJ TRANSIT commuter train that crashed in Hoboken killing one and injuring more than 100 more was not functioning on the day of the crash, CBS New York reports.

NTSB officials are hopeful the data recorder in the cab control car in the front of the train is functional, but investigators haven’t been able to extract that recorder because it’s under a collapsed section of the train station’s roof.

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The train’s engineer, 48-year-old Thomas Gallagher, told investigators the train was operating properly before it crashed Thursday morning. The engineer also said the train was operating at 10 mph as it approached the station and that he has no memory of the crash.

Photos from NTSB #Hoboken investigation; https://t.co/N8iNRXis1X

— NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) October 2, 2016

Additional findings announced by NTSB over the weekend include:

  • With the assistance of NJ Transit, investigators obtained video from other trains that were at the Hoboken Terminal, to see what those cameras captured from the accident event. The event recorder and camera from the controlling cab of the accident train remain inaccessible to investigators.

  • The event recorder from the trailing locomotive #4214 has arrived at the recorder manufacturer’s facility in Kentucky and NTSB personnel are supervising the attempted download.

  • There were no signal anomalies found on the tracks leading to the terminal. A full signal study cannot yet be completed because the accident train remains in the terminal.

  • Investigators completed the walking inspection of the track and found nothing that would have affected the performance of the train.

ICYMI: #Hoboken NTSB Investigation Press Briefing for Sept. 30: https://t.co/1U6VjRNedl

— NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) October 1, 2016

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