Feds Start Probe into Deadly Pascack Valley Line Train Crash

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board spent Friday cranking up the probe into Thursday's train crash in Hoboken that killed one and injured more than 100.

"Today is our first full day. We're making progress," said NTSB Vice Chairman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr in a press conference at 5:30 p.m. Friday. "It's still early on in our investigation. Our objective as always is not just to find out what happened but why it happened so we can prevent it from happening again."

Dinh-Zarr extended condolences to the family and friends of the woman who died when the Pascack Valley Line train crashed through a gate and then hopped up on a platform during the morning commute at the Hoboken station, which serves as a major transportation hub for tens of thousands of New Jersey mass transit riders. Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, of Hoboken was hit by flying debris when the four-car commuter train brought down the ceiling and a support beam in the century-old station.

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The NTSB has brought in parties with technical expertise and relevant information including the Federal Railroad Administration, NJTransit, and three unions: the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Transportation Division, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.

They've already sent blood and urine samples from the engineer in for toxicology analysis, she said, and they are scheduling and conducting interviews with the brakeman, conductor and engineer.

The NTSB recovered the event recorder from the locomotive yesterday evening. However, Dinh-Zarr said, they were unable to download it at the scene, so have sent it to the manufacturer to be downloaded. They haven't been able to get to the event recordings from the front of the train.

"As soon as the scene is safe, we will retrieve event recorder and forward facing video from the first car," she said. "We have obtained security video from the station and are reviewing that."

Working with NJTransit, they are examining the track on foot and by drone will complete that once the train is removed form the track.

While they also brought in 3-D scanning machine to make models of the interior and exterior of the train, that part will not happen immediately.

"Due to the significant damange to the canopy covering the tracks, we are waiting for contractors to remove it," Dinh-Zarr said. "It may be a day or two more before we can gain access to the site."

Safety is a primary concern for the investigators, the NTSB said.

In an earlier press conference, Dinh-Zarr said the agency will look at whether positive train control — a mechanism that slows down trains but NJ Transit trains are not required to have — could have prevented the crash. "We know that it can prevent accidents," she said during a press conference.

She said the NTSB disaster assistance group has been working to connect with the families of all the victims.

She urged passengers and those who were on the platform urged to talk to the investigators. Get in touch by emailing witness@ntsb.gov.

Meanwhile, victims are already talking to lawyers about personal injury lawsuits, the New York Post reported.

PHOTO/ NY Governor's Office