Investigators: Derailed NYC Train Was Going Too Fast - East Idaho News
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Investigators: Derailed NYC Train Was Going Too Fast

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120213 MetroNorthDerailAerial?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1386023742083NTSB(NEW YORK) — The commuter train that crashed in New York City on Sunday was going too fast.

Investigators don’t know why it was going so fast, but the Metro-North train, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Earl Weener said, was well over its speed limit. “That speed again was 82 miles an hour at the entrance to a 30-mile-per-hour curve,” Weener said.

The operator hit the full brakes five seconds before the accident — “very late in the game,” according to Weener. Investigators have found no problems or anomalies with the brakes, and though Weener said it’s too soon to conclude the derailment was caused by human error, ABC News is told that is now the focus.

The train crew is being interviewed and investigators have the operator’s cell phone to see if he was talking or texting.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Monday, “It’s premature to blame anyone or anything right now,” but, he added, the train’s speed “raises so many questions.”

Four people were killed and more than 60 were injured when the Metro-North train derailed as it rounded a riverside curve in the Bronx borough of New York City Sunday morning.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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