The operator of Sunday’s tragic Metro-North train is a motorcycle rider who loves high speed — but not on the rails, supporters said.
William Rockefeller was injured in the fatal train wreck but was able to talk to investigators right after the accident, officials said.
The Rockland County resident insisted that he hit the brakes but they didn’t work, law-enforcement sources said.
The train’s speed, as it wiped out on a curve leading up to the Spuyten Duyvil stop, is an early focal point of the probe.
Rockefeller is a 20-year veteran of the MTA and has clean disciplinary record, law-enforcement sources said.
Neighbor Tracy Pool, 52, said Rockefeller is an avid motorcyclist.
“He likes like to live on the edge,” Pool said. “I wouldn’t say he’s such a speed demon. But he always stayed within the speed limit with his trains.”
The neighbor insisted Rockefeller wouldn’t take unnecessary risks with train passengers.
“I can’t believe this happened,” she said. “This is so devastating. He’s so good with his trains.”
Rockefeller’s dad, William Rockefeller Sr., told The Post he didn’t know his son was on the train until William Jr.’s wife called him after the crash.
“I had no idea he was involved,” the train operator’s dad said. “We’re doing as good as can be expected . . . We’re holding up.”
William Rockefeller Sr. said his son loves his job.
“He’s one of the better engineers, the most dependable. And he really does like trains,” William Sr. said.
The train operator is married but has no children. He’s never been in an accident before, according to his father.
“It’s too traumatizing right now,” the dad said before hanging up.
The horrific crash on Sunday follows a series of calamities this year on Metro-North’s rails:
- A passenger train derailed on May 17 and was hit by another train in Bridgeport, Conn., injuring 51 people and causing $18.5 million in a damage.
- On May 28, track foreman Robert Luden was killed on the New Haven line in West Haven, Conn., when he was struck by a train.
- On July 18, a 10-car freight train hauling garbage near the Spuyten Duyvil station, scene of Sunday’s derailment, went off the rails.
- A power outage in Mount Vernon knocked out service on Sept. 25 on the New Haven line for about two weeks. The line carries 132,000 commuters daily.
Additional reporting by Jamie Schram, Larry Celona and David K. Li