Page 48 - Train Operator News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The curve, i mean i actually looked up. i knew something was -- it was going way too fast. >> there was screaming and people crying out to god and asking for their families. it was pretty gruesome. >> nbc's kristen dahlgren is live at the scene for us. kristen, it seems as if all arrows are pointing to the speed for investigators to look at when it comes to how that train was navigating the turn. >> reporter: yeah, it does. and what it may come down to in the investigation, thomas, is the black boxes. they have now been recovered from the front and the rear cars of that train. they'll be sent ...

Investigation. they have now recovered the plaque b black boxes from both the front of the train and the rear of the train and they hope that will give them the definitive information. how fast was the train going, were the brakes applied and when were they applied. according to the mta, the train operator told their investigators that he did what's called dumping the brakes. that the brakes weren't working and so he tried this emergency maneuver when you lit all of the emergency brakes on all of the cars at the same time so really an extreme measure. the ntsb still hasn't spoken with the trai...

People and injured dozens more. they've downloaded data from both of the on board recorders, tweeted out this picture of one of them. the recorders will play an important role in helping to determine if speed was a factor. joining us the former ntsb managing director peter goelz. how much are we going to learn? investigators from there's recovered data recorders? >> i think we're going to learn a great deal. i think if we're focusing in on speed and braking, the data recorders, while they're not as complex as aviation data recorders, it will give you the essential information. most importantly...

National transportation safety board. john, thank you so much for joining us. apparently the train operator says that he hit the brakes, but the train would not slow down. this is according to law enforcement who is at the scene. what could have caused that? >> well, it's two pieces. when did he hit the brakes, was he too far into the turn before he hit the brakes, so the recorders are going to tell us when and how much of an application he applied the brakes to. i assume he tried the emergency stop. so the recorders are going to tell us when that happened and just what that means to the accid...

Looking at that, but at this point in time we have no indication that it's -- that it's a factor. >> do we know how the train was being pushed? was it pushed from the back, the engine? >> what was the configuration of the train? the train was being pushed from the back of the train. >> did that cause a derailment? would that cause any problems for it to derail? >> we will certainly be looking at any contribution that may have had in the derailment. >> is it hard to apply the brakes on a train when it's being pushed from the back, the train operator said he tried to apply the brakes, they just ...