Service resumes on route where derailment killed four passengers

NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Riders boarded the Metro-North commuter train line into New York City Wednesday for the first time since a weekend derailment killed four people, officials say.

Service on the route was limited as railroad employees worked to restore damaged and destroyed rails along a sharp turn north of a station in the Bronx, the New York Times reported.

Some riders reported the express train seemed to slow a bit as it approached the scene of the deadliest accident in the railroad's history. Extra Metropolitan Transportation Authority personnel were stationed in the cars and a conductor's announcement over the train's loud speaker made passing reference to "the tragic incident Sunday."

MTA's chairman and chief executive officer, Thomas F. Prendergast, praised the "extraordinary work" of MTA workers for returning the line to service so quickly.

Not everything has gone so smoothly since the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board, responsible for civil transportation accident investigations, removed a railroad workers union from the probe of the derailment after a union official spoke publicly about engineer William Rockefeller's possible mental state.

Association of Commuter Rail Employees General Chairman Anthony Bottalico had told reporters that in a conversation, Rockefeller described nodding off just before the derailment.

"People use the word 'zoned out,' 'nod,' 'fell asleep,'" he said. "I'm not a sleep expert."

The union official's comments violate a "party agreement" in which those involved in the NTSB investigation limit what they say in public, the agency said in a statement late Tuesday.

"As a result of this violation from the party agreement, the organization was advised tonight that it was removed [from the investigation]," the NTSB said.

"While we value the technical expertise that groups like ACRE can provide during the course of an investigation, it is counterproductive when an organization breaches the party agreement and publicly interprets or comments on investigation information," said board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman.

"Our rules exist to avoid the prospect of any party to an NTSB investigation offering its slant on the circumstances of the accident," she said.

Rockefeller's attorney, Jeffrey Chartier, also said the veteran engineer became dazed just before the accident.

He told the Times in a story published online Tuesday night Rockefeller's altered state of awareness was "highway hypnosis."

Chartier described Rockefeller as "extremely remorseful" about the accident and said he was cooperating fully with authorities.

Rockefeller met with investigators from the NTSB and detectives from the state MTA and New York City police for more than three hours Tuesday, Chartier said, adding Rockefeller's eyes teared up at one point during the meeting.

Rockefeller's seven-car Metro-North Commuter Railroad train barreled into a sharp curve at 82 mph around 7:20 a.m. Sunday. The speed was nearly three times the 30 mph speed limit for curve, just north of a Bronx train station.