NTSB Still Examining Ellicott City Derailment

Investigators are in the midst of determining the cause of a deadly train crash in New York that happened Sunday. Preliminary reports suggest speed may have been a factor in that accident, but those affected may have to wait much longer for an official answer.

Locally, more than a year has passed since the CSX train derailed in Historic Ellicott City. A final report from the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to be released about the derailment.

A NTSB spokesperson said Monday that typically final reports are released six months to a year after the accident. However, in Ellicott City's case, accident investigators continue to examine the derailment that killed two Ellicott City teenagers. The spokesperson said the investigation should be nearing its closure.

The derailment on Aug. 21, 2012 killed Elizabeth Nass, 19, and Rose Mayr, 19, two college students home on break who were sitting on the train bridge overlooking Main Street when the train derailed, causing coal to topple onto them.

In a preliminary report released in early September 2012, NTSB investigators did not specify potential causes of the accident in Ellicott City, except to suggest that weather and speed were not the causes of the derailment.

The derailment caused six coal cars to fall off the tracks and fall about 15 feet to parking lot B, along the Patapsco River. In the past year, the parking lot has been fixed and re-opened.