The Metro North train that derailed Sunday killing four people had an alarm system — but it was only installed in the locomotive at the back of the train, not in the car at the front where the engineer was driving, a source familiar with the railroad said Wednesday.
The safety system is designed to keep the engineer alert by making a sound every 25 seconds the train is in motion, unless the engineer makes at least a minor movement.
But the engineer, William Rockefeller, was operating the train from the “control cab” at the front of the first passenger carriage, not from the locomotive pushing from the rear.
“The locomotive had an alerter. The (control) cab didn’t,” the source said.
Few if any Metro-North trains are equipped with the driver alert system at both ends, the source said.
