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| Hoboken train crash: authorities question engineer and name victim | Hoboken train crash: authorities question engineer and name victim |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Federal investigators on Friday questioned the engineer who was operating the commuter train that crashed in New Jersey a day earlier, killing one and injuring more than 100. | Federal investigators on Friday questioned the engineer who was operating the commuter train that crashed in New Jersey a day earlier, killing one and injuring more than 100. |
| Authorities named the woman killed and revealed that train engineer Thomas Grayling has answered investigators’ questions and was cooperating, after being released from hospital following the crash at a major transportation hub in Hoboken during Thursday morning’s rush hour. | |
| But the cause of the crash, and whether it could have been prevented by safety devices, remains unclear. Rail investigators have pulled one of the train’s black box data recorders from the wreckage and on Friday were struggling to extract the second one intact from a forward-facing camera on the front of the train, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported. | But the cause of the crash, and whether it could have been prevented by safety devices, remains unclear. Rail investigators have pulled one of the train’s black box data recorders from the wreckage and on Friday were struggling to extract the second one intact from a forward-facing camera on the front of the train, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported. |
| The two recorders are expected to contain information on speed, braking and other conditions that will help experts piece together the operation of the equipment and the actions of the engineer immediately before the New Jersey Transit commuter train crashed. | The two recorders are expected to contain information on speed, braking and other conditions that will help experts piece together the operation of the equipment and the actions of the engineer immediately before the New Jersey Transit commuter train crashed. |
| Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, the woman who died in the crash, was not a passenger on the train but was killed by falling debris. She was a 34-year-old mother of one daughter described as having a “big and genuine heart | Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, the woman who died in the crash, was not a passenger on the train but was killed by falling debris. She was a 34-year-old mother of one daughter described as having a “big and genuine heart |
| “I am speechless and feel like the world stopped for some moments,” Cecilia Marques, a former co-worker at a company that specialized in travel to Brazil, told the Associated Press. “I had the privilege to get to know and work with Fabiola for some years, and I can say she was a great, talented” woman. | “I am speechless and feel like the world stopped for some moments,” Cecilia Marques, a former co-worker at a company that specialized in travel to Brazil, told the Associated Press. “I had the privilege to get to know and work with Fabiola for some years, and I can say she was a great, talented” woman. |
| De Kroon previously worked in the Brazilian legal department of SAP, a technology firm, the company said in a statement. | De Kroon previously worked in the Brazilian legal department of SAP, a technology firm, the company said in a statement. |
| She had just dropped her toddler daughter off at daycare before rushing to catch a train, according to daycare director Karlos Magner. | |
| “We had a good talk for like a minute,” he said. “She said she was in a rush.” | “We had a good talk for like a minute,” he said. “She said she was in a rush.” |
| Engineer Gallagher, a 29-year veteran of New Jersey Transit, was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon. Fifteen of the injured were still in the hospital, including two in intensive care. | Engineer Gallagher, a 29-year veteran of New Jersey Transit, was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon. Fifteen of the injured were still in the hospital, including two in intensive care. |
| The #Hoboken crash site is boarded up, generators running, trains silent. pic.twitter.com/xvSOy2P6by | The #Hoboken crash site is boarded up, generators running, trains silent. pic.twitter.com/xvSOy2P6by |
| Meanwhile, early on Friday morning commuters faced a confusing and dark journey into New York City. Reporters on the scene captured images of a lightless and signless transit hub, where commuters had to navigate an unfamiliar station to reach a ferry to New York. | Meanwhile, early on Friday morning commuters faced a confusing and dark journey into New York City. Reporters on the scene captured images of a lightless and signless transit hub, where commuters had to navigate an unfamiliar station to reach a ferry to New York. |
| Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York avoided commenting on Thursday on whether positive train control, a safety device widely used in Europe and ordered by the federal government, could have prevented the crash. | Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York avoided commenting on Thursday on whether positive train control, a safety device widely used in Europe and ordered by the federal government, could have prevented the crash. |
| The speed limit heading into the station is 10mph. | The speed limit heading into the station is 10mph. |
| “The train came in at much too high rate of speed, and the question is: why is that?” Christie said. | “The train came in at much too high rate of speed, and the question is: why is that?” Christie said. |
| More answers were expected from a National Transportation Safety Board investigation, including from event recorders recovered from the accident, vice-chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr said on Friday morning.. | More answers were expected from a National Transportation Safety Board investigation, including from event recorders recovered from the accident, vice-chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr said on Friday morning.. |
| The implementation of positive train control has been delayed in New York and New Jersey, despite repeated deadly crashes in the area, including in the Bronx and in Valhalla, New York, on a Metro North train and near Philadelphia on an Amtrak train. | The implementation of positive train control has been delayed in New York and New Jersey, despite repeated deadly crashes in the area, including in the Bronx and in Valhalla, New York, on a Metro North train and near Philadelphia on an Amtrak train. |
| The crash has also put a renewed focus on New Jersey Transit, an organization some critics say has been “systematically starved” by Christie’s cuts and a lack of state transportation funds. | The crash has also put a renewed focus on New Jersey Transit, an organization some critics say has been “systematically starved” by Christie’s cuts and a lack of state transportation funds. |
| Despite high-profile recent exceptions, rail continues to be one of the safest ways for passengers to travel in the US. Each year, roughly seven passengers on mainline trains are killed, according to recent research. | Despite high-profile recent exceptions, rail continues to be one of the safest ways for passengers to travel in the US. Each year, roughly seven passengers on mainline trains are killed, according to recent research. |
| Cuomo and Christie both cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the role that the lack of positive train control played or did not play in the tragedy. | Cuomo and Christie both cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the role that the lack of positive train control played or did not play in the tragedy. |
| The NTSB has been pressing for some version of the technology for at least 40 years and the industry is under government orders to install it, but regulators have repeatedly extended the deadline at railroads’ request. The target date is now the end of 2018. | The NTSB has been pressing for some version of the technology for at least 40 years and the industry is under government orders to install it, but regulators have repeatedly extended the deadline at railroads’ request. The target date is now the end of 2018. |
| Over the past 20 years, the NTSB has listed the lack of positive train control as a contributing factor in 25 crashes. Those include an Amtrak crash last year in Philadelphia in which a speeding train ran off the rails along a curve. Eight people were killed. | Over the past 20 years, the NTSB has listed the lack of positive train control as a contributing factor in 25 crashes. Those include an Amtrak crash last year in Philadelphia in which a speeding train ran off the rails along a curve. Eight people were killed. |
| In 2011, a Port Authority Trans-Hudson or Path commuter train crash in a separate section of the Hoboken station injured more than 30 people. The NTSB found the engineer failed to control the speed of the train as it entered the station and investigators also determined a contributing factor was the absence of positive train control. | In 2011, a Port Authority Trans-Hudson or Path commuter train crash in a separate section of the Hoboken station injured more than 30 people. The NTSB found the engineer failed to control the speed of the train as it entered the station and investigators also determined a contributing factor was the absence of positive train control. |
| “They’ll have to answer for themselves, but at the end of the day if safety is job one … then you have to have a better record than New Jersey Transit has right now,” said New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, noting that the transit agency said in a 2016 Federal Railroad Administration report that it did not have positive train control on any locomotive or segment of track. | |
| “That means zero across the board,” he said. “They need to do better than zero across the board.” | “That means zero across the board,” he said. “They need to do better than zero across the board.” |