The National Transportation Safety Board said a Metrolink train that slammed head-on into a freight train Friday did not apply its brakes, according to preliminary data from the investigation. Investigators use stand-in engines on Tuesday to study what happened in Friday’s train crash near Los Angeles. The freight train, operated by Union Pacific, did hit its brakes, said a member of the NTSB assigned to the investigation, on Tuesday. She said that the data was collected from recorders aboard each train and physical examinations of the brakes but investigators were seeking additional data from two other damaged recorders. Investigators also found that the train operators had only 4 to 5 seconds to react before impact, she said. The Metrolink was traveling at 42 mph in a 40 mph zone at the time of the collision.

 Source: [1] http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/16/california.train.collision/index.html?eref=rss_us