Gov. Christie: ‘Seamless’ and ‘Thorough’ Train Wreck Investigation

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Sep 29, 2016

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie this afternoon cautioned against drawing conclusions about what may have caused this morning’s NJ TRANSIT wreck involving train number 1614 on the Pascack Valley Line, which departed Spring Valley, New York, at about 7:30 a.m. and crashed in Hoboken at around 8:45 a.m.  The train crashed when it continued beyond the track’s terminus.

Governor Christie said, “The one thing that we know is that the train came in at much too high a rate of speed. And the question is, ‘Why is that?’  And we won’t know that for some time.”

Christie added that the train’s engineer is “fully cooperating with law enforcement.”

Christie said, “We’re going to work together to make sure that the investigation is seamless, and coordinated; that we come to a conclusion as quickly as possible, and then if there are steps that need to be taken thereafter, to provide for even greater assurance of safety, for the people of our states. You can be assured that we will work together through the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, MTA, and NJ Transit, to make sure that that occurs.”

Overall, Christie said the National Transportation Safety Board has been dispatched as well as the Federal Railway Administration.

When will the Hoboken site’s tracks be restored?

On these points, Christie said, “[You have to] understand there a few things at play, here. First, there is the structural integrity of that portion of the building.  Second, is the power supply to the building.  As you know, there are energized tracks there.  As soon as this happened, if you had seen the way the damage operated, there were wires everywhere. Port Authority Police, Transit Police, made a decision to immediately cut power to that part of the building, to ensure the safety of the people who were there.  That was the right decision. And, so, we have to determine when it would be available to restore power to those areas.”

Again, it has not yet been determined when the Hoboken train tracks will re-open, although PATH service was expected to resume at 3 pm according to the Port Authority.

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