Spuyten Duyvil, New York Train Derailment
Investigators are looking into the cause of Sunday morning’s train derailment in New York City that killed four people and injured 60, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he believes speed may have been a factor in the accident.
On Monday morning Governor Cuomo told Today Show’s Matt Lauer that human error may be part of the reason the train carrying close to 150 people derailed over a sharp bend in the tracks.
“This was a tricky turn on the system, but it’s a turn that’s been here for decades and trains negotiate all day long. It’s not about the turn. I think it’s going to turn out to be about the speed more than anything, and the operator’s operation of the train at that time.”
The accident happened early morning in the Bronx on Metro-North’s Hudson Line, when all seven of the train’s commuter cars toppled off the tracks, throwing the lead car just inches from the water. The derailment occurred at the bend where the Hudson and Harlem Rivers meet.
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently looking at black box records from the train in order to determine whether or not technical malfunctions are to blame for the deadly accident. A second data recorder was found in the front car and has been sent to Washington for analysis.
NTSB’s Earl Weener told the Associated Press that all information needs to be validated before it can be released to the public, saying it could take as many as 10 days to complete the investigation.
