page_title: 2016 Hoboken train crash
section_title: Investigation
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 Hoboken train crash / Investigation
caption_attribution_description: English: NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr and other NTSB employees in the aftermath of the 2016 Hoboken crash
context_page_description: On September 29, 2016, an NJ Transit commuter train crashed at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey. The accident occurred during the morning rush hour, at one of the busiest transportation hubs in the New York metropolitan area. The events leading up to the crash remain unclear but are being investigated. One person died, and 114 others were injured. The train operator, who was in the cab car, was among the injured.
context_section_description: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the accident. An NTSB "go team" was sent to the scene, and the Federal Railroad Administration also dispatched investigators. Although injured, the train engineer cooperated with the investigation, and both the engineer and the train conductor were interviewed by investigators. The engineer lacked any memory of the accident itself. According to the federal investigators, the engineer "felt well rested and was unaware of any mechanical problems in the moments before the accident."
  Among other things, the NTSB investigation will attempt to determine whether or not positive train control could have prevented the accident.
  The day following the crash, investigators retrieved one of the two train event recorders (black boxes) from the wreckage, but it was unusable. The second black box was successfully recovered in the first week of October 2016.
  On October 6, 2016, the NTSB released its findings based on the event recorder and video recorders. According to its report, 38 seconds prior to the crash, the train's engineer accelerated from 8 mph and was traveling at 21 mph on impact, more than twice the speed limit of 10 mph. The engineer attempted the emergency braking procedure less than a second before the crash.
  On October 6, 2016, the train was removed from the station area for further investigation.
  In November 2016, attorney Jack Arsenault said his client, the train engineer Thomas Gallagher, suffered from severe sleep apnea which was undiagnosed until after the crash.  NJ Transit has a sleep apnea screening program but, despite that, a physical exam in July 2016 had cleared Gallagher for duty. Gallagher, aged 48 and with 18 years experience as a train engineer, said he had no memory of the crash and was lying on the cab floor when he woke up after the impact. An official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press under condition of anonymity that the investigation is considering sleep apnea as a possible cause of the crash.
  Hoboken Terminal has the original steel-and-concrete bumpers from when it was opened in 1907. It is believed newer bumpers with hydraulic shock absorbers and sled-like friction shoes would have reduced the impact.
caption: NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr and other NTSB employees outside Hoboken terminal
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