Investigators look for clues to fatal New York derailment

Rail accident investigators in the US are continuing to try and identify the cause of a major derailment which resulted in the deaths of four passengers on New York’s Metro-North Railroad.

The train, which was travelling on the Hudson Line from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Station, came off the tracks near Spuyten Duyvil station just before 7.30am on December 1.

All seven cars of the train derailed on a curve which runs alongside the Hudson River, narrowly avoiding the water.

Of the 120 passengers onboard, four were confirmed dead and 11 remain critically ill in hospital.

Addressing the media, Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo said that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and transport authority MTA would now work together to identify the cause of the incident and what lessons could be learned.

Cuomo also thanked emergency services, adding: “What’s most important is that we lost four New Yorkers this morning.”

According to NTSB official Earl Weener, the onsite investigation will take between seven and 10 days, and will see several teams assessing the condition of the track, the signals, the electrical and mechanical equipment, the operation and procedures and the train’s crew.

Earlier today (December 2), NTSB said that the train’s data recorder, otherwise known as its black box, had been recovered from the wreckage but had yet to be examined.