Christopher Maag

@Chris_Maag

The NJ Transit train that slammed into Hoboken Terminal last week may have been traveling two to three times faster than the posted speed limit, according to early estimates by crash investigators.

That estimate contradicts an earlier statement by the train's engineer, who told investigators he was traveling at precisely the speed limit — 10 mph — when he entered the station.

The estimate, provided to The Associated Press by a U.S. official briefed on the investigation, holds that the train was traveling 20 to 30 mph when it barreled into the terminal. It is based on the extensive damage caused by the accident rather than on any eyewitness statements, surveillance videos or data recorders recovered from the scene, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he or she is not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

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Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board's probe into the crash entered its most intensive phase Tuesday after investigators finally entered the train's lead car and retrieved data recorders they hope will explain the accident's cause.

"Now is when we get very, very busy," said Jim Southworth, investigator in charge for the transit safety agency, who entered the front car at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to remove the train's data and video recorders.

Those recorders are especially important in this case because the data recorder in the rear of the train wasn't functioning at the time of the crash, investigators said. That recorder, also called a "black box," was manufactured in 1995, which is old for such important equipment, Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chairman of the NTSB, said over the weekend.

The data and video recorders in the front car were built in 2003 and "appear to be in fairly good shape," Southworth said Tuesday. The recorders arrived at the NTSB's headquarters in Washington, D.C., at 3 p.m. Tuesday. It's still too early to know whether they were functioning during the train's final trip, Southworth said, or if they survived the accident's impact, which left the train's front two cars pinned under the terminal's collapsed roof.

"We expect the recorders will be able to provide the investigators with speed information, throttle positions, braking system information, and about 100 other parameters, as well as a video image of the accident," Southworth said.

Southworth and another investigator, Michael Hiller, also retrieved from the front car the backpack of Tom Gallagher, the engineer who was operating the train from a cab inside the lead car at the time of the crash. Gallagher already has told investigators his cellphone was off and stored inside his bag during the trip. Investigators will be studying whether that was true and also will try to figure out if the cellphone contains any useful information about the crash, Southworth said.

Getting into the lead car was tricky and required extensive planning because of dangerous conditions at the site, Southworth said. The two men had only enough time inside to retrieve the data recorders and Gallagher's backpack and to take some pictures before exiting.

All NJ Transit trains will be barred from entering Hoboken for at least the next several days as the NTSB's workers continue studying the scene, Southworth said. Trains that normally end in Hoboken on the Main, Bergen, Pascack Valley and Montclair-Boonton, Morristown and Gladstone lines all have been terminating instead at Secaucus Junction since the crash. Trains on those lives have been running less frequently than the typical weekday schedule. Riders have reported extensive overcrowding.

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After their on-scene investigation is complete, the remains of the train will be moved to a maintenance facility for further study, Southworth said.

A toxicology report has been performed on Gallagher, said Southworth, but the results are not yet known.

Southworth declined to answer repeated questions about the speed of the train, which many observers described as moving quickly just before the crash.

Gallagher performed a brake test Thursday morning before starting the trip, but Southworth declined to say whether any evidence collected so far indicates whether the onboard alert or emergency braking systems failed leading up to the crash.

Christopher Maag: maag@northjersey.com