Investigators said early Monday they recovered both black boxes aboard the New York commuter train that derailed, killing four and injuring more than 60.
The two data recorders are expected to shed light on whether speed, mechanical failure, or driver error accounted for the derailment that occurred while the train rounded a curve in the borough of the Bronx on Sunday morning. Both boxes are in good condition, investigators said, in the ABC report.
“We have recovered the event recorder of the cab car,” said National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener, in ABC. “We have downloaded the data off the locomotive. We have not had a chance to analyze it.”
By the end of Monday, though, investigators will know just how fast the train was traveling at the point it derailed, he said.
The operator told emergency responders that the brakes had failed. But witnesses said the train had been operating at a high rate of speed — though they couldn’t say how fast. Investigators are also looking to the track itself to determine if the rail was in poor condition, ABC said.
“Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened with the intent of preventing it from happening again,” Mr. Weener said, in the ABC report.
SEE ALSO: 4 dead in New York City train derailment: report
Investigators said they would likely be at the scene, searching for clues, for the next 10 days or so.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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