Chicago Train 60 Mph Above Speed Limit Upon Derailment

CHICAGO (AP) A commuter train was going almost 60 mph above the speed limit just before it derailed, killing two people and injuring dozens, the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.

Mark Rosenker said the Metra train was traveling at 69 mph and should not have been going faster than 10 mph when it switched tracks at a crossover just before jumping the tracks Saturday.

“Sixty-nine miles an hour is very, very fast when you’re dealing with a 10-mile-an-hour restriction,” Rosenker said.

The speed information came from a preliminary reading of one of the train’s three electronic data recorders, popularly known as “black boxes,” Rosenker said.

Part of the investigation included an interview Sunday with the train’s engineer, Rosenker said. The 41-year-old man had been on the job for 45 days after completing Metra’s six-month training program, which included at least some training along the route where the derailment occurred.

The NTSB will also examine records of the train signals and radio transmissions from a control tower, Rosenker said.

Investigators have determined that nothing was abnormal with the tracks, which had just been inspected on Friday, he said.

The double-decked commuter train was headed into Chicago from Joliet on Saturday morning with 185 passengers and four crew members when its locomotive and five rail cars jumped the tracks about five miles south of downtown.