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Train engineer can't remember N.J. crash

HOBOKEN, N.J. — The engineer at the helm of a train that smashed into a New Jersey commuter rail terminal, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 others, told federal investigators he was going only 10 mph as he approached the station, but has no memory of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The statements from the engineer, Thomas Gallagher, came as investigators learned that an event data recorder that was supposed to record the New Jersey Transit train’s speed and braking information wasn’t functioning, according to NTSB vice chairman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr. Investigators haven’t been able to extract a second data recorder, located in the cab control car in the front of the train, because it is under a collapsed section of the train station’s roof.

“It’s likely that it’s a newer event data recorder in the lead passenger car, the controlling car, so we’re hopeful that will have information that will be functioning,” Dinh-Zarr said at a Sunday news conference. “We’ll just hope that the front event data recorder was working.”

Gallagher, 48, told investigators that he was fully rested and that the train was operating properly Thursday morning before it crashed into the Hoboken Terminal. Killed was Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34. More than 100 others were injured.

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