New York crashed train exceeded speed limit

The commuter train that derailed in New York City borough of Bronx early Sunday morning was travelling at a speed of nearly 82 mph (132 kph) while it entered a 30 mph (48 kph) curve, authorities said.

Two event recorders of the Metro-North train were read out at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) lab, adding that human error or a mechanical problem might be the likely cause of the crash, though no evidence showed that it was caused by sabotage, Xinhua quoted NTSB Board Member Earl Weener as saying.

There were nine stops before the derailment occurred near the Spuyten-Duyvil Station Sunday, but the NTSB said that they were not aware of any prior problems with the brakes.

Four people were killed in the derailment and more than 60 were injured.

Weener said that rail cars and locomotive will be moved to a secure location for a more detailed examination over the next few days.

The train engineer has been interviewed and his cell phone was being reviewed by forensic investigators, according to Weener.

More than 100 people were aboard the train heading from Poughkeepsie in upstate New York to Grand Central Terminal in downtown Manhattan. It skipped the tracks 91 meters north of the Spuyten-Duyvil Station in the Bronx on a curved section of the track just before 7.30 a.m. Sunday morning.

The accident came four months after a freight train derailed on a nearby stretch of the track.