New York train doing almost three times speed limit Cranes salvage the last car from from a train derailment in the Bronx section of New York. New York: The Metro-North Railroad commuter train that derailed just north of Manhattan, killing four people, was travelling almost three times the posted speed limit, federal investigators said. Data recorders recovered from the wreckage show that the seven-car express train bound for Grand Central Terminal was moving at 131 km/h on a curve with a 48 km/h maximum, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener told reporters. The crash, where the Harlem River joins the Hudson, caused the first passenger fatalities in Metro-North's 30-year history, the railroad said. Two women and two men died, and 63 were hurt. It isn't clear yet whether mechanical failure or human error was to blame, Mr Weener said at a briefing in Yonkers. "This was a tricky turn on the system, but it's a turn that's been there for decades and trains negotiate it all day long, so it's not about the turn," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. I think it's going to turn out to be about speed more than anything and the operator's operation of the train at that time. Data recorders show the locomotive's throttle was cut to idle six seconds before the crash, Mr Weener said. One second later, brake pressure was fully applied. The straight leading to the curve had a 110km/h speed limit, he said. "This train made nine stops prior to the unrailing," Mr Weener said. We need to understand how the system was working throughout the trip. He said investigators weren't aware of "any problems or anomalies with the brakes." The engineer, William Rockefeller, was injured and hospitalised, according to a person familiar with the accident's details. Drug and alcohol tests on Mr Rockefeller were being analysed, and his mobile telephone was inspected to see if he was using it at the time, Mr Weener said. Before becoming a locomotive engineer about 15 years ago, Rockefeller, 46, worked in the stationmaster's office as an administrative clerk who posted train schedules in Grand Central Terminal, said Tony Bottalico, general chairman of the Association of Commuter Rail Employees, the union representing Metro-North train operators. "He has an impeccable work record, he's well-liked by his co-workers and he's trusted," Mr Bottalico said in a telephone interview. There is nothing that can be construed as accurate as causation at this point. Anything being reported right now is conjecture and it's unfair to everyone involved. Metro-North's third crash in a year brought new attention to passenger safety on the railroad, which carries an average of 280,000 riders each weekday, second only to the Long Island Rail Road, according to the American Public Transportation Association. The NTSB, which is investigating the two earlier Metro-North accidents, will be on site for seven to 10 days, Mr Weener said at an earlier briefing. Monday's commute went smoothly even with service suspended between Yonkers and Grand Central. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which operates the railroad, provided shuttle buses between Yonkers and the 242nd Street terminus of the 1 subway. Amtrak's Empire Service, whose tracks parallel the Hudson Line, remained in operation. The four dead were identified as Donna L. Smith, a 54-year- old paralegal from Newburgh, NY; James G. Lovell, 58, a media consultant from Cold Spring, NY; James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, NY; and Kisook Ahn, 35, a nurse from Queens, NY Three bodies were found outside the train, said Edward Kilduff, chief of the New York fire department. Of the injured, 11 were in serious condition, he said. Lovell, father of three teenage boys and an adult daughter from a previous marriage, worked for the "Today" show and was married to Philipstown Councilwoman Nancy Montgomery. The town of 10,000 is about 60 miles north of New York City along the Hudson River. "A part of this community has been turned upside down today," Richard Shea, the town supervisor, said in a telephone interview. Lovell had survived open heart surgery and cancer, though that didn't deter him from teaching his boys how to high-dive at a nearby lake, Mr Shea said. I remember thinking at the time that the guy was invincible. The NTSB has about 20 investigators assigned to four teams examining signals, mechanical equipment, train workers' actions and the train's interior. The latter team will "try to identify how people were injured or killed," Mr Weener said. The MTA righted the train's locomotive and needs to do the same with the remaining seven cars before returning them to the track. Several hundred feet of track must be repaired, said Aaron Donovan, an agency spokesman. Rescue workers used airbags and other devices to lift train cars to gain access to and search for victims who lay injured or dead underneath the wreckage, said Marjorie Anders, an MTA spokeswoman. Unlike on an airplane, Metro-North passengers don't have assigned seats, making investigators dependent on witness interviews to determine victims' location and how they incurred injury, said Peter Goelz, a former NTSB managing director, who is now a senior vice president at O'Neill & Associates, a Washington public relations firm. "You've got to find out where they were and where they ended up; it's just basic detective work," Mr Goelz said. Two event recorders, known as black boxes, were retrieved from the cab car at the front and the locomotive, which pushed the train from its rear. The accident could have been prevented through technology called positive-train control, which automatically applies the brake, even when an operator fails to do so, said Ross Capon, president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, a Washington advocacy group. "If the brake system was working, it absolutely is PTC- preventable because PTC would've enforced the speed limit," Capon said in an interview. Railroads face a December 31, 2015, deadline to install the technology to comply with a 2008 law, passed after a Metrolink commuter-rail crash in Los Angeles. Railroads have complained about the cost and sought a delay. The MTA, the biggest US transit agency, employs 66,000 workers, has a $US13 billion budget and carries 8.5 million riders a day on subways, buses and commuter railroads. It's been plagued by deficits for years, which officials have battled with biennial fare and toll increases alongside a cost-cutting plan that began in 2010 and is set to pare more than $US1 billion from the operating budget by 2017. Last year, Hurricane Sandy floodwaters caused about $US5 billion in damage to its system.