HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) - The Latest on a commuter train that crashed into a station in New Jersey, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others (all times local):
7:20 p.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it appreciates that crew members of a train involved in a deadly New Jersey crash have been “very cooperative.”
NTSB investigators say they’ve contacted the train’s engineer but have held off questioning him because of his injuries and have struggled to lift clues from the train’s data recorders.
Engineer Thomas Gallagher has been a New Jersey Transit engineer for about 18 years. He was pulled from the wreckage Thursday and was briefly hospitalized. He hasn’t spoken publicly.
Authorities want to know why the commuter train smashed through a steel-and-concrete bumper at the Hoboken (HOH’-boh-kehn) Terminal and hurtled into a waiting area, killing a Brazilian woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 other people.
More than 100,000 people use NJ Transit to commute from New Jersey to New York City each day. The NJ Transit portion of the Hoboken station remained closed Friday, slowing commutes.
___
5:30 p.m.
Federal investigators say the probe into a train that crashed into a rail station in New Jersey is in the fact-gathering phase and it may be up to two days before there is full access to the site.
Bella Dinh-Zarr, a vice chair for the National Transportation Safety Board, says Friday that investigators are working on a number of avenues, including collecting records and security video from Hoboken Terminal and making contact with train passengers and others on the platform.
Dinh-Zarr says there is plenty to be done even without access to the cars, which is being hindered by a fallen canopy and debris at the site.
A New Jersey Transit train rammed into the terminal on Thursday morning, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 other people.
___
4:55 p.m.
A U.S. government official says the engineer of a train that crashed into a station in New Jersey has answered questions and been cooperative with investigators.
The official also said Friday that engineer Thomas Gallagher’s blood and urine have been sent for testing, but results aren’t yet available.
The official isn’t authorized to talk about the ongoing federal investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Gallagher’s New Jersey Transit train rammed into the Hoboken Terminal on Thursday morning, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 other people.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have recovered a recorder from the back of the train. They were still working to access a second recover that would have access to the forward-facing camera.
- Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Hoboken contributed to this report.
___
3:35 p.m.
Federal investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the deadly train crash in New Jersey to get in touch with them.
The New Jersey Transit train rammed into the Hoboken Terminal on Thursday morning, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 other people.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that accounts from people who were aboard the train or standing on the platform can help them learn more about what happened.
Investigators are working to determine what caused the crash.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the only thing known so far is that the train came into the station too fast.
___
2:15 p.m.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’s been told the investigation into the deadly train crash at the Hoboken station could take at least seven to 10 days.
Christie says the only thing clear so far is that the train came into the station too fast before crashing through barriers and stopping against the terminal building. One woman was killed and more than 100 other people were hurt.
Contractors were working to prop up a canopy Friday so investigators could safely get to the front car.
Sixteen people injured in the crash remained hospitalized Friday. Thirteen patients were at the Jersey City Medical Center, including two in intensive care.
Two patients remained at Hoboken University Medical Center. One patient was in fair condition at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center.
___
12:40 p.m.
Fifteen people injured when a train crashed into a rail station in New Jersey are still hospitalized.
A spokesman for the Jersey City Medical Center said Friday that 13 patients remain there, including two in intensive care. Those patients are in guarded condition, which is a step above critical condition.
Mark Rabson says 11 patients are expected to go home Friday.
A spokesman for Hoboken University Medical Center says two of the 23 patients that came there needed to stay overnight.
The condition of a patient who had been at a third hospital wasn’t immediately known.
Investigators are working to determine what caused the crash.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says that the only thing that is known so far is that the train came into the station too fast.
___
10:30 a.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board says investigators are having trouble extracting a recorder from the forward-facing camera on the train that crashed into a rail station in New Jersey.
NTSB media spokesman Christopher O’Neill said Friday that investigators are struggling to retrieve the recorder from the wreckage in Hoboken without damaging it.
He says that recorder should show what was ahead of the train before it crashed Thursday during morning rush hour.
The NTSB also recovered the event data recorder that should reveal what inputs were made to train controls. Investigators also recovered an event recorder that should tell them how fast the New Jersey Transit commuter train was going when it slammed into the terminal, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 other people.
___
7:45 a.m.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have recovered the event recorder from the train that crashed into a rail station in New Jersey.
They’re hoping the recorder will tell them how fast the New Jersey Transit commuter train was going when it slammed into the Hoboken Terminal on Thursday morning, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100.
Investigators also plan to interview the engineer and other crew members.
They’re also trying to secure the crash site and ensure it is safe for them to comb through the wreckage.
___
7:30 a.m.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says investigators in the train crash at a rail station in New Jersey have ruled out terrorism and should have some answers soon.
He told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe so far there’s “no suspicions of terrorism or foul play, anything of that nature,”
When asked about the security of the U.S. train system in general, Johnson says Transportation Security Administration has stepped up its rail safety efforts despite its primary focus on aviation.
He says the agency also has to be concerned about trains, public transportation, and public events.
___
6:50 a.m.
Commuters are returning to work by roads, rails and river one day after a train crashed into a rail station in New Jersey.
New York Waterway on Friday resumed service from the Hoboken Rail/Ferry Terminal and is accepting New Jersey Transit tickets into Manhattan.
NJ Transit’s rail service remains suspended in and out of Hoboken while officials investigate what caused Thursday’s crash, which killed a woman and injured more than 100. They also are assessing the structural damage to the terminal.
PATH and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service has resumed from Hoboken. There is expanded bus service.
The Main, Bergen and Pascack Valley lines are operating on a weekend schedule, originating and terminating in Secaucus.
Metro-North is honoring all Pascack Valley Line and Port Jervis Line rail tickets and the MTA is running buses.
___
12:30 a.m.
Federal investigators are sifting through the wreckage of a train crash in New Jersey to determine what happened before the train barreled through a station too fast, smashing through a concrete-and-steel bumper.
A 34-year-old mother was killed by falling debris during the crash Thursday and more than 100 others were injured.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will be attempting to determine how fast the commuter train was going when it crashed at the busy Hoboken station and ground to a halt in the waiting area.
Among the questions facing investigators is whether a system designed to prevent accidents by overriding the engineer and automatically slowing or stopping trains that are going too fast could have helped if it had been installed on the line.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.