Reports have circulated of this occurring because someone somehow tampered with the controls..... But, I think it might be wise to wait until somebody has a more detailed story, of the what, how, and who behind this very serious safety failure. Some of the reporting I just watched was somewhat vague on details but long on fears, which doesn't really explain much about how it happened.

As a former griever, I've seen folks come up with some really interesting and quite creative explanations for how things could possibly have gone wrong.... None of which was, of course, ever the result of any failures to observe the applicable rules. Things like securing cabs, removing control devices, securing handbrakes, leaving powered up unsecured equipment for "just a second", or other variations thereof, come to mind.....

We've had previous incidents like this, most often caused by human error, but also even from "foamers" out "joy riding", although we haven't had a Pelham 123. However, if something like this can be done, even by mistake, or through a breach of proper protocols, such as by unauthorized access to the equipment, or even as an act of deliberate sabotage, it is also a security failure these days. Which could be exploited for no good purpose by other potential bad guys. So less details might well be warranted, until they know a real "reasons" for "how" this happened, might be appropriate.

Only four stations before they shut down power and no one hurt. So at least somebody noticed right away (unlike a few of the joy riding incidents....), as it didn't take too long to notify train controllers, and they shut it down, pretty quickly. So it looks like at least somebody sure did their job right and stopped it...good work!