- Title: NTSB to pull event recorder from crash site
- Date: 29th September 2016
- Summary: HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS - Broadcasters: NONE Digital: NONE) VARIOUS OF HOBOKEN TRAIN STATION WITH EMERGENCY CREWS, AND FIRST RESPONDERS AT SCENE NTSB VICE CHAIRMAN BELLA DINH-ZARR WALKING TO PODIUM WIDE OF DINH-ZARR (SOUNDBITE) (English) NTSB VICE CHAIRMAN BELLA DINH-ZARR SAYING: "That is absolutely one area that we always look into for every rail accident. As you know, the NTSB has been recommending Positive Train Control or PTC, for 40 years. So we will look at that, we will look at whether there was positive train control installed and all the aspects related to that, before we come to any conclusion." HOBOKEN TRAIN STATION WITH EMERGENCY CREWS, AND FIRST RESPONDERS AT SCENE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NTSB VICE CHAIRMAN BELLA DINH-ZARR SAYING: "We cannot know what other people have found. What we're here to do is to find the most accurate information. That's what the NTSB does. We are going to be pulling that event recorder from the locomotive, which it is safe to that at this point. So once we pull that, we'll have more information about the speed, and breaking, and other issues." HOBOKEN TRAIN STATION WITH EMERGENCY CREWS, AND FIRST RESPONDERS AT SCENE
- Embargoed: 15th October 2016 00:02
- Keywords: train crash Hoboken New Jersey NTSB U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Bella Dinh-Zarr
- Location: HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
- City: HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Ground Accidents/Collisions,Disaster/Accidents
- Reuters ID: LVA00151MG4EF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday (September 29) that investigators would retrieve the event recorder, which tracks speed, braking and other data, from the rear of a train which plowed into a station in New Jersey, on Thursday night.
"What we're here to do is to find the most accurate information. That's what the NTSB does. We are going to be pulling that event recorder from the locomotive, which it is safe to that at this point," said NTSB Board vice chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr. "Once we pull that, we'll have more information about the speed, and breaking, and other issues".
The commuter train plowed into a station in New Jersey at the height of Thursday's morning rush hour, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 people as it brought down part of the roof and scattered debris over the concourse.
Dinh-Zarr said the NTSB would be investigating if the train was under 'Positive Train Control' or PTC, a safety measure the NTSB has been recommending which is designed to automatically stop a train before certain accidents occur.
"As you know, the NTSB has been recommending positive train control, or PTC, for 40 years. So we will look at that, we will look at whether there was Positive Train Control installed and all the aspects related to that, before we come to any conclusion," said Dinh-Zarr.
Witnesses described terrifying scenes as the front of the train smashed through the track stop at high speed and into the Hoboken terminal, toppling support columns and creating chaos at one of the busiest transit hubs in the New York City area.
One woman from Hoboken died when she was struck by debris from the crash, said the city's mayor, Dawn Zimmer. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told reporters that 108 people were injured.
The train's engineer, or driver, was injured and taken to a hospital. In a phone interview with CNN, Christie said the driver had been released from hospital. He did not describe his injuries.
A couple of hundred emergency workers spent the morning shuttling in and out of the station, some carrying the injured on stretchers to ambulances outside. Federal investigators later began examining the wreckage.
The Hoboken crash was the latest in a string of fatal train crashes in the United States. The worst in recent years involved an Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia in May 2015, killing eight people and injuring more than 200. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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