U.S. transit safety officials say the commuter train that crashed in New Jersey last week, killing one person and injuring more than 100, was traveling at twice the speed limit at the time of impact.
The speed limit for trains arriving at the Hoboken terminal is 10 miles per hour (16 kph).
The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that information from the data recorders aboard the train shows that the train was traveling at 8 miles per hour (nearly 13 kph) and the throttle was in the idle position less than a minute before the crash. The throttle was increased about 38 seconds before the collision, and the train speeded up, reaching a maximum of about 21 mph (34 kph).
The data also revealed that the engineer applied the brakes less than one second before the train crashed into the station’s bumping post, the NTSB said. A woman standing on the station platform was killed by debris.
Also Thursday, New Jersey Transit ordered that a second crew member must join the engineer before the train enters the terminals in Hoboken and Atlantic City.
That means a second set of eyes will be watching as a train completes the final phase of its trip into stations where there are platforms at the end of the rails.
The New York Times first reported the change in rules.
A final report on what caused the deadly crash on September 29 could take a year or longer to complete.
