The Long Island Railroad train that crashed into a bumping block at Atlantic Terminal on Wednesday, injuring over 100 people, was going twice the speed limit inside the station, according to investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Though federal officials are still trying to determine why the train did not slow down or stop properly, investigators do believe the train was traveling at more than 10 miles per hour when it crashed into the bumper, more than double the speed limit of 5 miles per hour. An NJ Transit train that crashed into the terminal in Hoboken, NJ in September was also found to be traveling at twice the speed limit when it was supposed to be slowing down. That crash injured over 100 people and killed one woman.
The NTSB has been interviewing the engineer who drove the LIRR train involved in Wednesday's incident, and investigators say he claims he does not remember the crash. "He does recall entering into the station and controlling the speed of the train,” NTSB investigator Ted Turpin said at a press conference yesterday. "But then the next thing he realized was after the collision." The engineer's name has not yet been released, but Turpin revealed that he is 50 years old and had been nearing the end of his overnight shift, which started at midnight, when he crashed into the block at around 8:30 a.m. He had also just returned to work after a three-day break.
Further investigation of the crash revealed that the train changed speeds a few times prior to crashing—the Daily News says the train was traveling at 33 mph when it entered the Atlantic Terminal, then slowed to 15 mph, and then began oscillating between 2 mph and 10 mph before finally crashing at 10 mph.
Though 106 LIRR passengers were taken to area hospitals to treat injuries on Wednesday, none of the injuries were life-threatening. (The most serious injury was a broken leg.) Still, at least one passenger has filed a notice of claim against the LIRR and the MTA, citing "careless, reckless, negligent acts" that led to the crash.
Riders onboard the train told reporters the train seemed to roll into the station like normal, before it smacked into the block. David Spier, who was onboard the train, told CBS 2, "The people right in front of me all fell down like dominoes. They were all like piled on top of each other."
A spokesperson with the NTSB told Gothamist they're still investigating the cause of the crash and will not yet comment on the factual information amassed.
