The braking system of the CTA train that crashed Monday was engaged and the train apparently wasn't speeding, a federal official said today.
Ted Turpin of the National Transportation and Safety Board made those two points during a press briefing. The train came into the Blue Line station at O'Hare International Airport at about 25 or 26 mph, he said.
There was an automatic stopping device at the station that triggered the train and put it into emergency braking, Turpin said. "It was attempting to stop the train. The brakes were applied," he said.
During an interview at O'Hare, Turpin said investigators haven't cleared up yet what happened when the CTA train crashed and wound up perched on an escalator.
Turpin said a six-member team from NTSB has been divided into several groups to study the track, the mechanics of the equipment, signals and an operating factors.
The NTSB was scheduled to interview the operator this afternoon. "We always take into consideration the fatigue factor. That's one of the areas we investigate."
Investigators will also take measurements, inspect maintenance records of the car and track and other data.
The investigators have recovered "event-type" recorders, he said. "They are not event recorders, not like a black box, but they do have some minimal recording devices on the cars," Turpin said.
Also recovered was "quite a bit of video evidence," he said. There are up to 41 station video cameras, as well as the on-train videos, he noted. There are cameras on each car, and there is also a forward-facing camera on the cab car.
Turpin said officials didn't know how long it would take before the train could be cut apart and removed.
It also wasn't clear when service to the airport would resume. Officials said they would continue shuttling passengers from the O'Hare station to Rosemont.