NJ train was going twice the speed limit in crash

A New Jersey Transit train was traveling twice the speed limit when it barreled into the Hoboken station last week, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others.

{mosads}The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which released new details from its probe of the crash Thursday, said that an event recorder extracted from the front car indicates that the train was going 21 mph when it collided with a bumper at the end of the track.

The event recorder also shows that 38 seconds before the crash, the train was traveling around 8 mph when the throttle increased from idle to the “#4” position. The throttle went back into idle just prior to the collision and the engineer hit the emergency brake about a second before impact.

The data seems to be consistent with camera footage and multiple eyewitnesses, who said the train never appeared to slow down as it pulled into the station.

The revelation marks progress in the investigation, which had hit a series of snags over the last week.

Investigators were initially unable to retrieve the black box from the front car due to the extensive wreckage, while a data recorder from the back of the train turned out to not be working during the crash.

Then the train’s 48-year-old engineer told investigators that he had no memory of the accident but said he was well rested and believes he entered the station going 10 mph.

Officials are still awaiting a toxicology report, as investigators work to clear the debris from the crash site.

The NTSB also said that investigators will be examining a cellphone that was pulled from a backpack located in the front cab.

“The NTSB has not determined probable cause and cautions against drawing conclusions from these facts alone,” the agency said in a press release. “The investigation remains in the fact-gathering phase, which could take a year or more.”