Black box's failure hampers Hoboken train crash probe
The train that slammed into Hoboken Terminal on Thursday, killing one person and injuring more than 100, ran its fateful final route with no functioning data recorder in the locomotive, making it impossible for investigators to gather valuable information on why the train crashed, a federal official said Sunday.
It was one of several NJ Transit equipment failures onboard the train, as detailed Sunday by Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation. News of the broken data recorder comes after it was revealed that the Federal Railroad Administration fined NJ Transit in June for multiple safety violations, and that the administration is still monitoring NJ Transit’s performance.
The failed data recorder was built in 1995, Dinh-Zarr said.
“That’s quite an old event data recorder,” she said. “Usually when they’re not working, they’re replaced.”
Read more: http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/emergencies/2016/10/02/ntsb-one-black-box-crashed-train-wasnt-working/91444404/