HOBOKEN, N.J.: One data recorder recovered so far from the New Jersey Transit commuter train that crashed in Hoboken killing one and injuring more than 100 others was not functioning on the day of the accident, officials said Sunday.
The locomotive’s recorder is supposed to store information on train speed.
National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chair T. Bella Dinh-Zarr said Sunday afternoon that she’s “hopeful” the data recorder in the cab control car in the front of the train is functional.
Investigators haven’t been able to extract that recorder because it’s under a collapsed section of the train station’s roof.
“We still have no firm date on when the controlling car can be accessed so we can” obtain the second recorder, Dinh-Zarr said.
Dinh-Zarr also said that the train’s engineer, Thomas Gallagher, told NTSB investigators that he was well-rested before arriving to work that morning and that the train was operating properly before it crashed Thursday morning.
He told investigators he has no memory of the accident.