The engineer operating a commuter train that derailed in New York City Sunday told investigators that he had zoned out as the train headed into a curve well over the posted speed limit, sources told the New York Post.
Engineer William Rockefeller said he was jolted back to reality only after a whistle went off in the front of the train warning him that he was going too fast, sources added, according to the newspaper.
“He was just somehow inattentive,” one source said.
Rockefeller all but admitted he was falling asleep, sources also told DNAinfo.com.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, said Monday that the train was going 82 mph as it went into the 30 mph curve near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx on Metro-North’s Hudson Line.
As a result, the locomotive and some of its seven cars derailed and toppled over, leaving the lead cars inches from the water. Four people died in the accident and dozens were injured.
The station is located at a sharp bend where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet.
On Monday, NTSB board member Earl Weener sketched a scenario that suggested that the train's throttle was let up and the brakes were fully applied way too late to stave off disaster.
He said the throttle went to idle 6 seconds before the derailed train came to a complete stop — "very late in the game" for a train going that fast — and the brakes were fully engaged 5 seconds before the train stopped.
It takes about a quarter-mile to a half-mile to stop a train going 82 mph, Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Kevin Thompson said.
Weener would not disclose what Rockefeller told investigators, and he said results of drug and alcohol tests weren't yet available. Investigators are also examining Rockefeller’s cell phone, apparently to determine whether he was distracted.
Engineers may not use cell phones while on the train, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs Metro-North.
Anthony Bottalico, executive director of the rail employees union, said Rockefeller “is totally traumatized by everything that has happened."
He said Rockefeller, 46, was cooperating fully with investigators.
"He's a sincere human being with an impeccable record that I know of. He's diligent and competent," Bottalico said. Rockefeller has been an engineer for about 11 years and a Metro-North employee for about 20, he said.
Rockefeller was being interviewed by the NTSB on Monday, and will be the subject of additional interviews “for the next couple of days,” Weener said.
Outside Rockefeller's modest house in Germantown, police told reporters that at the request of the family any of them who trespassed would be arrested. Calls to the home went unanswered.
Weener said it was still too early to tell if human error or faulty equipment triggered the crash that killed four and injured dozens.
“That’s the question we need to answer,” Weener told a Monday afternoon news conference.
Flanked by senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Weener also said the train was traveling too fast for the 70 mph zone it passed through moments before reaching the curve where it derailed.
Weener said Monday that two data recorders had been recovered from the crash, and “low quality” surveillance footage, taken from a nearby bridge, was being examined.
Schumer added that the track appeared to be in good condition, and authorities were not aware of any problems with the train’s brakes.
About 150 people were onboard the train when it veered off the tracks around 7:20 a.m.
In their efforts to find passengers, rescuers shattered windows, searched nearby woods and waters and used pneumatic jacks and air bags to peer under wreckage.
Passengers were removed from the wreck by authorities, with dozens bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times,” said a bloodied Joel Zaritsky, who was on his way to New York City for a dental convention.
“Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train."
The MTA Police Department identified the deceased Sunday as Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens, N.Y.; Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh, N.Y.; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, N.Y. and James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, N.Y. Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside, authorities said. Autopsies were scheduled for Monday, the New York City medical examiner's office said.
The accident was the latest mishap in a troubled year for Metro-North, which had never before experienced a passenger death during an accident in its 31-year history.
It came six months after an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Conn., and was struck by a westbound train. That crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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