Blumenthal, Murphy Tour NTSB Lab Conducting Metro-North Accident Investigation

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) today toured the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) lab in downtown Washington – where investigators are studying evidence and fragments collected at the scene of the May 17 Metro-North train derailment in Bridgeport – to receive an update and see firsthand the investigation in progress. The lab provides technical support to accident investigations and conducts safety studies that examine safety issues in all modes of transportation. After the visit, Blumenthal and Murphy released the following statement:

“Immediately after last month’s derailment, NTSB pledged to us that they would conduct a thorough and timely investigation to determine the cause of this alarming crash, including a careful review of the safety features of the new Metro-North cars. Just last week, NTSB issued an urgent safety recommendation to Metro-North in response to a separate incident, and within days Metro-North responded that it is initiating a pilot program to comply with the recommendation. That experience, coupled with the opportunity today to see up close the work being done to determine the cause of this derailment, leaves us confident that  NTSB’s skilled, professional investigators will carefully comb through the data and evidence collected at the scene and issue findings in a timely manner to prevent similar tragedies in the future. We look forward to those findings and will stay in close contact with NTSB and Metro-North as the investigation continues.”