The US authorities have begun an investigation into the causes of Sunday's train crash in the Bronx area of New York in which four people were killed and more than 60 injured.
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| Emergency workers were on the scene quickly after the crash |
The 05:54 from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Station derailed as it went into a bend in the railway line near Spuyten Duyvil station.
It was reportedly travelling faster than the speed limit in the area.
The train's event recorder, similar to a flight recorder, has been recovered.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to the site with instructions to inspect the overturned cars and interpret information from the recorder. They are expected to be there for several days.
'Spinal injury'
The Federal Railroad Administration has also sent a team of investigators.
Officials have identified the deceased as Donna Smith, 54, James Lovell, 58, James Ferrari, 59, and Ahn Kisook, 35. Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside.
Of the 150 or so who were on board, 11 remain critically injured.
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| The train appeared to be going "a lot faster'' than normal as it approached the curve, one passenger said |
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| One of the derailed carriages ended up very close to the water where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet |
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| Dozens of firefighters arrived at the scene to free trapped passengers |
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| The injured were ferried to local hospitals |
On Monday, a second data recorder was found in the train's rear locomotive. Investigators said they hoped to download information on the speed and settings of the train from that recorder.
Some 26,000 weekday commuters on the route were warned to brace for crowded trains on the first morning after the derailment.
Train service south of Spuyten Duyvil has been "suspended until further notice", the train's operator, Metro-North, said on Monday morning. Buses were being provided to the New York subway system.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the bend where the derailment occurred was in a slow-speed area.
The train appeared to be going "a lot faster" than normal as it approached the bend coming into the station, passenger Frank Tatulli told WABC-TV.
The speed limit on the curve is 30mph (50km/h), compared with 70mph in the area approaching it, investigators said.
Dumping the brakes is reportedly a last-resort move that has the effect of slamming on the emergency brakes on all the cars of a train at once.
Metro-North serves commuters from New York City's northern suburbs. It is not part of the New York City subway system.
The accident was the second passenger train derailment this year for Metro-North, which, until Sunday, had never experienced a passenger death in an accident in its 31-year history.
On 17 May, an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was struck by a westbound train. The crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor.
Eleven days later, a track foreman was struck and killed by a train in West Haven, Connecticut.
A freight train derailed near the same location as Sunday's accident in July, damaging about 1,500ft (457m) of track. No-one was hurt.
Source: BBC News
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