NTSB searching for similarities between Metro-North crashes

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chief Deborah Hersman said on Monday that her agency was investigating a crash on the New York Metro-North commuter rail system over the weekend.

Hersman said in an interview with CNN that the NTSB has dispatched investigators to the scene of the accident in the Bronx, N.Y., which resulted in four deaths and more than 60 injuries.

“We have a go team that’s en route right now to the accident scene,” Hersman said. “They left Washington right this morning. … And they will hit the ground running. They are experts in the work that they do.”

{mosads}The Metro-North train derailed on its way to New York from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., early on Sunday morning. The crash was the second major Metro-North accident this year, following a collision of two trains in Connecticut in May.

A freight train that was operating on tracks that are used by Metro-North also derailed in July of this year.

Hersman said the NTSB was sending in experts in train derailments to look for potential causes of the latest Metro-North crash.

“We’ve got folks who are focusing on operation, track, human factors, crash worthiness and survivability,” she said. “Recorders experts, and they’re all going to be looking to focus on those particular areas. And so, for example, our recorders expert is going to go look to see if we can identify any black box type recorders that might be on board the train. They’ll be looking at the signal system to see if there’s any indication there that might tell us about what happened.”

Hersman said the accident investigation agency would look for similarities between the Sunday Metro-North crash and the earlier Connecticut incident.

“We are investigating several accidents that have occurred on Metro-North’s property over the last eight months,” she said. “And so we will be looking at precursor events. Things that maybe were close calls prior to this that could have given Metro North some indication that this was an area that they needed to pay attention to. If we find any acute safety issues, we will issue recommendations.”

But Hersman also cautioned that there would not be an automatic association between the latest accident and the prior investigations.

“I think we need to take a look at each accident, each event, and identify what the facts are before we reach any conclusions,” she said. “And so at this point, we want to look at this event at what occurred, at how it occurred, and why it occurred. We’re certainly aware of the trash train that derailed in July. We will be taking a close look at that.”