We live in a very different age. When I worked for Amtrak I was told by an old head conductor that on Amtrak if someone made a bad decision they would be held responsible, but they never got in trouble if they wouldn't make any decision, and that each morning was a total surprise to them regardless how long the approaching situation had been building. Amtrak proved him right numerous instances the short time I was there.

Didn't they manage to put a runaway GG-1 (brake failure) into the concourse and then fall into the basement of Washington, DC Union station? Wasn't there an upcoming inauguration, holiday or some special event that meant they station was going to be at maximum capacity, and they just built a new floor within hours over the wreck and recovered it later?

At Hoboken, they have announced there was no track or signal problem, no surprise there as they should have been inconsequential to the basic issue. They should have been able to easily download/recover the event recorder from the trailing unit. The only real advantage I can see to having the event recorder from the lead unit is that it might add if an emergency brake application was initiated by the engineer, he blew the horn or rang the bell and alerter resets. I heard there was supposed to be a cab camera, but I don't think there will be any real investigative advantage to watch the train crash through the end of track (I'm sure there are other dramatic security videos that also show this), so the biggest clue might be if there was a camera aimed at the cab controls.

I think everyone here is trying to cover their a$$es. I would bet the union and lawyers have the crew saying as little as possible as there is a good chance they are a contributing factor. And I have heard claims that the FRA was already taking issue with NJT's operations, that NJT is showing exactly ZERO% completion of installation of PTC in their FRA reports (so they didn't even try to meet the initial deadline?), and of course how do the "experts" that are bureaucrats explain that PTC may not have prevented the accident. It doesn't really give you a warm, fuzzy feeling if there was some mechanical or other issue that may potentially affect similar operations immediate steps would be taken to deal with them.