Metro-North Train Sped at 82 M.P.H. Into 30 M.P.H. Zone Before Crash

The Metro-North Railroad train that hurtled off the rails on a sleepy holiday weekend morning was traveling 82 miles per hour as it approached one of the sharpest curves in the region’s rail system, federal investigators said on Monday — nearly three times the speed permitted through the turn.The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, and a board member, Earl Weener, said the train’s sudden power shift came “very late in the game.” The board cautioned that it remained unclear if the speed was the result of human error or faulty equipment.

But the extraordinary speed shed new light on the deadliest New York City train derailment in more than two decades and heightened the focus on the veteran engineer at the center of the investigation. The maximum allowable speed through the curve is 30 m.p.h.; even the straightaway north of the crash site permits speeds no greater than 70 m.p.h.

Prosecutors from Mr. Johnson’s office were at the scene of the derailment on Sunday, and two officials said the prosecutors had issued subpoenas for the engineer’s blood samples, for drug and alcohol testing, and for his cellphone.

Mr. Bottalico predicted that “when all is said and done here,” the authorities would find there was “no criminal intent.”

A senior official with the transportation authority has said that Mr. Rockefeller initially told emergency workers that he “dumped the brakes,” an emergency maneuver, after he realized he was traveling too quickly.

Mr. Weener said that six seconds before the rear locomotive came to a stop, “the throttle was reduced to idle.” The brakes were fully applied one second later.