The National Transportation Safety Board has pulled a union representing commuter rail employees from its investigation into the derailment of a Metro-North train that killed four people and injured more than 60 others in the Bronx early Sunday.
The NTSB said late Tuesday that the board removed the Association of Commuter Rail Employees (ACRE) from its status as a participant in the investigation over a press conference held earlier in the day by the union's general chairman, Anthony Bottalico.
At the presser, Bottalico admitted that the train's engineer, William Rockefeller, had dozed off moments before the derailment, which occurred at a sweeping curve in the track near the Spuyten Duyvil station on Metro-North's Hudson Line. The NTSB investigation has determined that the train was going 82 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone at the time of the crash.
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According to a statement released by the NTSB late Tuesday, the NTSB invited ACRE and other organizations and agencies to provide technical expertise during the investigation, on the condition that they not reveal or comment on investigative information.
"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 NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman in the statement.
