kid: why not? vo: are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab we are going to continue the coverage of the developments in jordan tonight. joining me now on the phone is amman. what do we know about what has occurred there tonight? >> lawrence we are gotten confirmation now from the jordanian government officially from the ministry of interior that shortly after dawn in jordan the jordanian government carried out the execution of two convicted terrorists it had in its custody. the identity of the two individuals, one was the name of lists that jordan had offered up to exchange for that jordanian pilot. she is known as sajida al risch

rischadi. she's been on death row since 2006 and jordan offered to exchange her in exchange for the pilot after the news came out today he was executed, the jordanian authorities confirm she has been executed and it's on news outlets and news agency. in addition to her, the jordanian government confirmed they have executed another individual believed to have been a right-hand man of a -- founder of al qaeda in iraq. one of the most notorious figures of the iraq war and he was believed to have been a senior operative within that

operation and on death row for some time now. now his name also was known to officials and people following the story for the past couple of days but the fact is that jordanian government this evening has confirmed that it has gone ahead with the execution of these two individuals and although they don't officially say it's widely believed to have been in response to the execution of the jordanian pilot confirmed today, lawrence. >> and it's so striking that all of this is happening on a day when jordan's king abdullah met in the oval office with president obama. does that trip to washington have anything to do do you think with the islamic state's timing on releasing this video today? >> well there's no doubt that the islamic state in the past has been very sharp with its messaging and its propaganda value is certainly been a key objective of the organization whenever it's made its

statements in the past. i would be very comfortable in saying that they were probably aware that jordanian king was in your dan was this the united states scheduled the meet with president obama, scheduled to have a high profile meetings and not lost on them in trying to get maximum attention for their action today. jordanian officials believe, again, this is according to the armed forces put out that statement earlier today, they believe the execution of the pilot happened sometime ago, as far back as early january. the timing of releasing the execution of this pie lot's video certainly speaks for itself given the fact that the king was already in the united states today and also another point to keep in mind the video itself the propaganda video released showed a lot of previous meetings that the jordanian king had with president obama. it showed it had several news clips of the two leaders and showed images of the jordanian armed forces working alongside

with u.s. armed forces to try to illustrate that strong relationship between the two. there's no doubt that jordanian government today feeling a little bit of pressure on the streets given the anger directed towards isis for the execution of this pilot, acted very swiftly in response to that execution carrying out its own set of executions and the timing is not lost on both parties, one isis are carrying out the execution on the day gnat king was in the united states and two the jordanian government acting swiftly with its own execution as people taking to the streets in the course of the night demanding swift action. >> we are joined now by phone by the terrorism expert. lathe, what is your reaction -- what is your reaction to your didn't's swift response to the discovery their pilot was burpt to death? >> as you said it lawrence it was a very swift reaction.

i think that the jordanian government carried out what it promised which is if the pilot was not returned rishawi and others who are on death row already would be executed. it is not only just a response to the killing of the jordanian pilot, but i think the jordanian government needed to make a point to the international community that it's still committed to the war on terror. it is still committed to being an ally of the united states combat the cancer in the region. >> and laith, you've studied the islam state's methods, especially their public relations methods, their need to get a certain kind of attention. much has been said today about this change in methodology from beheading to now burning to death and the very elaborate video, highly produced video that recorded that horrible

burning to death today. what do you make of this change of technique and even the enhanced production values in this video? >> you know indeed i mean the video had high production value but i think the point of burning him alive was this. i mean it was clear message from the video that just as we are caged in syria and iraq being bombarded by your bombs and rockets of fire we are going to do the same with the best of our capabilities. it's a symbolic retaliation against the jordanian involvement targeting the islamic state. beheading will no longer just work. it is not as effective for terror purposes. this is a lot more visual. it is a lot more excruciateing and obviously a very clear message that the islamic state is not backing off and also that

it's putting the arab armies and part of the u.s.-led coalition in the same bracket of the crusader armies. >> what do you expect to be the reaction in jordan among the people of jordan? >> you know the reaction for the most part what i've seen so far has been in support of the family of the pilot. they have gone to the streets and said we are all the sacrifice of the terror group and that slight negative backlash against some people believe that the jordanian government did not do enough to negotiate the release. there is a mixed reaction but i feel they're in support of the government and believe isis is not only a cancer in the region but also getting really close to home. >> we have images on our screen now of people in jordan holding up pictures of the pilot and

early and of course earlier today because of the time zone differences. but clearly at that stage in that particular demonstration, that was very supportive of the pilot. laith, what do you expect now to be the islamic state's reaction to what -- to what has happened with these two executions? >> you know, at the end of the video they put out today, they had a list of half dozen jordanian air force officers. they put on a hit list essentially and called out for essentially for operatives in jordan to take revenge against every single air force pilot. they offered money for every person to kill one pilot. so clearly the islamic state is capitalizing on this action and

calling for more. >> how many assets does the islamic state have in jordan? >> i mean obviously, it is very difficult to ascertain but throughout the last four years of the syrian conflict and especially the last couple of years of islamic state operating in syria, it's extracted many jordanians to join the ranks and also found acceptance among a number of jordanians in places where a number of you know radical cells have demonstrated their not only pledge of allegiance to the islamic state's leader baghdadi and demonstrated the resentment of the jordanian government. the fear would be if these operatives or if these radical individuals would act now and would start operating inside of jordan. >> thanks for joining us. we'll be right back. we gave people the power of the review.

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we are back with more live coverage and joined by shane harris of the daily beast and joined by phone. shane, what do we know about the jordanian pilot who we now know today was executed some weeks ago? >> well we're hearing tonight he probably was killed possibly as early as january 3rd, maybe around the eighth of this month, as well. there have been reports of

intelligence that we have as well as people on the ground and were tweeting around january 8th that isis bragging about having killed a jordanian pilot and having burned him alive. he may have been dead for quite sometime before the video was put on the internet today. >> the methodology is new for the islamic state. burning to death. what is the most reasonable interpretation of why they changed this methodology? >> one interpretation is that in the muslim faith burning the body is a -- not the way to dispose of the dead and that by burning him it is possible to send a message he was not going to be given a proper burial almost sort of a sacrilege to do it in this way.

the other is given the beheading videos attracted a lot of attention a lot of them and perhaps isis felt they had to do something more dramatic and more horrific. you know having unfortunately seen a lot of these videos i can attest that this one was quite a lot more ghastly than the previous ones we have seen and quite more vivid, as well. if they were trying to shock people even more than they had in the past they may have succeeded. >> and, shane, jordan was ready apparently to make a prisoner exchange for they lot. he was already dead. but that means that the jordanian people were primed for the possibility of this exchange and the pilot coming home safely. what do you expect are the reactions of the people to this?

>> i think there's already tremendous outrage and upset over his capture. there were protests in amman to continue by the authorities there which is quite unusual. i think the big question of people is what point do the jordanians know he was in fact dead? if they did know this why were they offering to engage in a negotiations? did that prolong the agony and the public ran kor over this? it's possible they had suspicions that he was dead and no absolute confirmation. but obviously, this is a huge issue in jordan which is already facing an internal security challenges and were campaign against isis is quite unpopular. officials telling me today that this is going to strengthen their resolve. they do not plan to back down and see in coming days whether that's true and maintain the role in the coalition and did not stop participating in air trikes with the u.s. after the

pilot was killed. pardon me. after he was captured. >> thank you very much for joining us tonight. we'll be right back.

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we're back with our live coverage of the breaking news in jordan and we're joined by nbc news white house correspondent chris jansing. is there any word on the white house's reaction to the two executions that occurred in jordan tonight apparently in

retribution for the execution of the jordanian pilot? >> good evening, lawrence. i was actually with some administration officials tonight. i came back, turned on your show and saw the banner. i had only been watching it a few minutes so i don't know the direct reaction. i can tell you, though, that this was something that had been anticipated. jordan's president, as you know, has said immediately after this happened that they would pay a price and a lot of what the world was watching and certainly the coalition partners were watching was what effect this would have. back in december, after the jordanian pilot was captured, the united arab emirates stopped participating in air strikes and there has been internal politics, as you know. and so i think this is -- the fact that there is swift retaliation such that jordan feels much like the president

did, the president was having an event this afternoon just as he was going into this event, which was to tout the benefits of obamacare, he was at a table surrounded by people who had sent him letters thanking him for their health care coverage. he had been briefed on this, on the video itself and, of course, it was still in the process of being authenticated at that point. but he used some very strong words, as he has before, about bankrupt organization and he has told savannah when she did the interview for the super bowl about how he had seen the videos and how it only strengthened his resolve so in talking to administration officials today and into tonight, that's the feeling at the white house that they believe it will strengthen the coalition which is not to say that they are not aware of the fragility, in some ways, that this brings. >> chris, do you have any indication from the white house

that the president revealing that he has actually seen some of the execution videos by the islamic state was a planned revelation or is that something that just slipped out? because one wonders if that isn't something that actually would then please the islamic state to know that their work has made it directly to the president's eyes? >> i think this is something that members of the administration knew that he had seen them and he had indicated that he was being briefed and as always of these were in progress, it wasn't just one, it was several. but i think it was a statement to him of maybe defiance is too strong a word. i don't want to imply that i'm speaking for what the president's motivation was but he was clearly sending a message and going into the oval office

and the brief time that we were in there with king abdullah, how somber the mood was and how determined and how quickly in the afternoon the president's mood, which, you know, he was hosting these americans for whom it was a big thrill to have the president let alone be invited into the roosevelt room and when i was able to ask him that one question at the end -- >> let's listen to what the president said. >> you know, he quickly changed to being very somber and i think that revelation was not something that was unlikely and it was clearly meant to send a message. >> let's listen to what the president had to say today. >> should, in fact, this video be authentic, it's just one more indication of the viciousness

and barbarity of this organization. and it, i think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated. and also it indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they are operating off of, it's bankrupt. we're here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better. and this organization appears only interested in death and destruction. >> we're joined now by phone by nbc news andrea mitchell. andrea, the -- we've been waiting today, since we discovered that the jordanian pilot had been executed, for what would be the jordanian response on the ground. we now seem to have it.

>> i think it's very clear that, jordan is, first of all experiencing the horror, the shock. as it has been support for the king and for the royal family and this is something that would be very, very important in that society. this was a prominent family. the government had agreed to make the trade of the very well-known hostage, the woman who was the attempted suicide bomber, and that was something demanded and expected by the head of the family, the father of the pilot. this was a very important tribe in jordan society. and the fact that the king flew back, he clearly informed the president at 6:15 when they met this evening, 6:15 eastern, flew back cutting short his trip, basically signaled that they were not going to roll over, that they were not going to back off of the coalition against the isis. this is an existential moment

for jordan. jordan has 800,000 refugees from the syrian war. they were today signing a memorandum of understanding to help them sustain this refugee crisis, which is a number of refugees, 21% of their total population now. their country is being overwhelmed and the fact that this brutality, you know, none of these executions have been easy to take but this one so far exceeded the beheadings, it seems as though isis was outdoing itself for shock value. and that, i think, has gotten exactly the contrary reaction i think that king abdullah had consulted with the senate foreign relations and appropriations committee and the white house and having met with the vice president and the

secretary kerry today, flew home feeling really empowered to face down this crisis. >> and andrea, with the different possible interpretations of what's occurred here in jordan, are there -- will there be any domestic strains for king abdullah with this? for example, agreeing to the trade of prisoners which could be seen by some as weakness, something that the united states refuses to do and then coming to that willingness to make that kind of agreement, it turns out that negotiation was going on in a completely fraudulent way by the other side because they had killed the pilot weeks ago. >> i think that strengthens the king. it would be difficult to predict from over here exactly how it's going to play out. i don't feel entirely comfortable making that judgment because i'm not on the ground and i'm not talking to people there. but i have talked to other

people in the region and jordanians and others from the immediate neighborhood who have been in and out of washington and, of course, i've covered it for many years and i know the king well and his colleagues and foreign minister juda and the fact is, they have very good intelligence sources they very well may have known that this jordanian pilot was killed shortly after his capture. and killed in this brutal fashion. it's the judgment of our experts to follow of this but this 22:34 video could not have been done in recent days, could not have been done quickly and that he was killed and killed in this brutal fashion and the video was skree yaded to terrify, to scare, to divide to break the

coalition, to say to the others whether it's the saudis or the uae or the moroccans or others who are less vulnerable to back down and not keep taking on isis and not send more pilots into the air. let the americans do it. and, you know, i think that this very well may have been a negotiation where they knew the pilot was dead but they made the offer and now it's on isis having demanded the proof of life, it's now isis that shows their brutality and that they were acting in bad faith all along. i think it could come down to the king's favor. >> so it puts king abdullah in the position to say to his people, say to his country, i tried everything that i could to get that pilot back but look who i was dealing with. >> exactly. and i -- i've heard experts say and i don't pretend to be an expert on this but the burning of the body was particularly

offensive so that that is just another step in isis potentially infuriating i think in particular the jordanians. now, perhaps to those who are sick-minded and inspired by a brutal, horrific video somewhere in the west to other potential followers, this could be a successful propaganda tactic, but in jordan this is a very prominent family. this was a highly respected pilot, a young man, recently married, was going to start his own family. i think the jordanian national identity was very tied up in humidity r him and that this is backfire. >> andrea, do we have indications that the islamic state knew who this pilot was, who he was in jordanian society? >> oh, absolutely. completely sophisticated.

and wired. i'm so struck by these stories that "the new york times" was the first to report it today and "the washington post," the sophistication of the underground railroad by which they executed the woman, the co-conspirator and partner of the attacker on the kosher supermarket in paris. i mean the way they got her across the border. she had motorcade, bodyguards, it was a complete organization. >> andrea, we have to break it there. we're now going live to our other breaking news story tonight. a train accident on metro north here in new york. six people dead. >> as it was approaching a crossing immediately at this location it came upon a car that was on the crossing. it struck that car, pushed it about 400 fe

there was a fire and explosions and emergency service personnel responded and got injured people off the train. some people self-evacuated. and that's where we stand right now. in terms of service for the morning, we're putting together a service plan for people who ride the harlem line to the extent that they can get down to white plains and catch the service there, that's what they should do. if they are north of brewster, we're going to have buses take them over to beacon on the hudson line and then south of that point we're going to bring trains down to i believe pleasantville and bus them down to white plains. governor? >> thank you.

as you heard from mr. pendergrass, what we know -- what appears to have happened -- now, there's going to be investigations that follow that determine all of the facts but what appears to have happened is a car was stopped on the tracks. it was hit by the train and the resulting fire and explosion of hitting the car consumed the car, the vehicle and then the first car of the train itself. at this time, we believe the driver of the car has perished as well as six people in the train itself. again, this is all preliminary information. there will be follow-up investigations as to what happened. but as far as the available eyewitnesss and what can be put together tonight that's what this situation looks to be.

most importantly, you have seven people who started out today to go about their business and aren't going to be making it home tonight. and it's a painful reminder to all of us how precious life is and sometimes how random it can be. this is a truly ugly and brutal sight. the track, the third rail of the track came up from the explosion and went right through the car. so it is truly a devastatingly ugly situation to see. i want to thank all of the first responders who were on site on very difficult circumstances and are doing a really phenomenal job to do everything that they can. other than that, any questions for myself or mr. pendergrass?

>> there's a witness who's claiming that he was right behind the car and that the gates may have malfunctioned. any information about that? >> we have not heard that. as i said, all we know from eyewitnesss, et cetera, and the best facts that we have is that a car was stopped on the tracks with the gates down and was then hit by the car. but there will be records. these are electronic devices. so when people actually go through the facts, we'll know exactly what happened. >> louder, please? >> the locomotive engineer was injured and he was taken to the hospital and treated for injuries. he's not one of the casualties. >> how many injured at this point? >> don't know. don't know that number. the train usually leaves grand central with 655 people on it. that's the usual count.

>> what speed would that train be doing? >> i believe the maximum allowable speed is 60 miles an hour here. so that could be the speed he was going at. but as the governor has said, there's an event reporter on the train. part of what they will do is make sure they gather all of those facts and ascertain them before we actually come to a firm conclusion. >> when you look at the damage done and the damage to the fire, it's actually amazing that not more people were hurt on that train. >> how did the third rail somehow get into that car? >> the third rail entered the floor of the car and the sections of the third rail in the first car. >> any idea how that would happen? >> well, the third rail stops at the grade crossing and so that's where the contact with the automobile was made and it entered through the automobile and up through the floor of the car. >> anything else? okay. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> that was governor andrew

cuomo explaining what happened on metro north train crash and north of new york city about an hour north of new york city. that is the second busiest rail line in the united states, the long island railroad being the busiest passenger train. about 655 passengers. we have confirmed that six of them tonight are dead. we'll be right back. boy: once upon a time, there was a nice house that lived with a family. one day, it started to rain. the house tried to keep out all the water, but water got inside and ruined everybody's everythings. the house thought she let the family down. they just didn't think it could happen. they told the house they would take better care of her... always. announcer: protect what matters. get flood insurance.

we're back with more breaking news coverage of our live news events tonight, both the train crash in upstate new york and the situation in jordan. we're joined again by phone by steve clemons. steve, the reaction in jordan to the execution of the two prisoners that jordan was ready to hand over in exchange for the jordanian pilot who had been captured by the islamic state,

we are seeing some of that, some video of that reaction in the street. it seems supportive both of the pilot and king abdullah. what is your read of the complexities of the reaction to this situation in jordan? >> well, as i think laith said earlier, the situation inside jordan, as you've described it, was complex and tense for the government because there was a lot of criticism that the government was not doing enough to move forward with the exchange of rishawi for this pilot and there grew a lot of antipathy within jordan about the cost of allies with the

united states and others were. that jordan has absorbed into it is country many of the refugees from syria and iraq over the years and received very little, on a relative basis, aid from the rest of the world. at least not on par with the burden that jordan has been carrying and those stress signs were showing. and so there was a fear in washington, talked about just yesterday in meetings that i was participating in that if this pilot had been alive, if he had been executed, if they had not made the trade, this might have exploded inside jordan, might have become a politically destabilizing factor for the government and the king and might have resulted in jordan withdrawing from the anti-isis coalition. now what you see unfolding is exactly the opposite of that. and i believe -- i agree with andrea mitchell that while we have a lot to see how it unfolds, this appears at first glance to have strengthened the king and i think it was very important that he and the government showed immediate resolve in these executions and

showing they will meet isis where they are and that they will confront isis as harshly as isis has been behaving the other way. so i think it's rather important and heartening to see the jordanian people rally around their government, rally around what he represented to them. because it could have very easily gone the other direction. washington policymakers at the top levels of government were very, very worried that jordan would have to step back. >> and steve, was there any feeling in the jordanian government that they should not negotiate with terrorists over this pilot? >> i believe that there is, in many cases, in all of this, a diversity of views. i think that -- you know, i think even i said perhaps on your show or one of the other

shows that thinking that the pilot was alive, if they had in fact negotiated, given this woman an acquiesce to isis' demands, that it would heighten the market. >> yes. sure it would. >> that the fact that people would continue to be kidnapped, that isis would continue to play these games. and so, i do believe there were voices to that but they were quiet. >> and steve, the prominence of this pilot's family, andrea mitchell was educating us about that a great deal earlier in the hour. do you think that was -- that amplified the response in some way? >> i think it made him better known but it could have backfired the other direction, too. his father was very well-known, he came from a very powerful tribe that if the government did this for this pilot because he

was well connected what would the government do for those people living inside jordan that were not well connected? there's always the tension in the societies between the have and have not challenge. so i think it would be a mistake to say just because he was from a powerful family that the government might have proceeded with this that there wouldn't have been a backlash had they moved in that direction. >> steve, i would imagine king abdullah has to be concerned with how long lasting and how unifying the reaction to this might prove to be. you know, it could be crowds on certain sides of the street but a month from now, two months from now, when's going to be winning the argument about what jordan's support of u.s. policies in the regions means to jordan? >> this may be an unfair critique, and i want to be

careful, but i think many people have said abdullah is a soft king and someone who likes to spend more time in washington than jordan. this may be very well his moment where he rises to the occasion and he begins to demonstrate a kind of resolve and behavior that reminds people of king hussein of your dan who was such a key, vital, nimble fixture in middle eastern politics. i think that this could very well be a transition point for the kingdom and i think if the king and his advisers use this moment to rally the world to recognize that jordan has played this extraordinary role taking in the region's refugees for years and that it has reached a certain breaking point and they can turn that around and at the

same time join -- i think there's a palpable anger that qatar foreign minister attiyah met with john kerry and talked about the delegitimization of isis the fight against isis the efforts to defund and cut off the funding sources for isis, that only works if every single one of these governments has deep, deep resolve to do this and i think that jordan is a major pillar in this and if jordan can bring that around and the king can look as if he's crafted this new and different and harder jordan than this, then he comes out a really different reader in the region and sends in a very important way that he just hasn't yet. so that is what i think the next two or three months hold as you ask and i think, you know, it's his moment either to lead or i

think if he doesn't lead in this, then jordan is going to have some real problems in the next two or three months. >> steve, in our coverage of the region, we're always emphasizing the news always seems to be emphasizing how unpopular the united states is in the countries in the region outside of israel but explain to us how the jordanian people how is it that they support the extent of the alliance that jordan has had. it is a kingdom. king abdullah does not run for re-election. we get that. he does have to be sensitive of how much support his position has among the people. so how would that relate to the position in the united states? >> i think it's a bet. jordan and king hussein invested

in the education of the people. fundamentally, the instability issues you're talking about, the way the king sort of makes move things move is dealing with as in many of these governments balancing positions to the various tribes and trying to sort of modernize their government and move it forward in a way that the people feel that they are getting a fair shake from the political system. jordan has long had a problem and, frankly, many think a worsening problem in corruption and the question about competence of government. and i think that the king has not made as much headway on those issues as many might like. but when it comes to the partnership and alliance with the united states, i think that jordan for a long time and in part because it, along with egypt, has had peace with israel

and is unique in the region, they've also been exposed to the modernity of that and israel is a part of that picture and the united states was the sculptor and architect in essentially the security guarantor for that. much bigger problem is not that. it's fear throughout the region that the united states is not playing the role that it once used to play in the region and that a void has emerged that groups like isis are filling or iran and its transnational networks are filling and that's why there is, in many of these countries, less jordan than in places like kuwait, saudi arabia, bahrain and others are in the private sector continuing

to send money and to privately support groups like isis or now al nusra because they believe that these groups are the only check on growing iranian power because the united states is absent and that the united states is only bombing from the air and fundamentally is not the kind of bold, decisive cutting-edge power that it used to be. so -- so i would worry less about people not liking the united states than folks in the region doubting america's resolve to be engaged in the region. >> steve clemons, thanks very much. we'll be right back.

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we're returning now to live breaking news coverage of the train crash in valhalla, new york. about one hour north of new york city on the metro north commuter rail line, the second busiest rail line in the united states. six passengers on that train tonight are now dead.

the train crashed into a jeep cherokee which seems to be stuck on the tracks at a crossing. we are joined now from that site by wnbc reporter gus rosendale. gus, there's some confusion after the governor said that there were six passengers that were dead and then he also said the driver's also dead. is it clear to us whether this is now a total of six or a total of seven? >> reporter: lawrence, it has fluctuated throughout the evening. the latest from the governor is that the total number is seven. that was from a briefing from just the last half hour or so. we have a truck coming through. excuse me. the governor pressed upon us that this was still very early on in the investigation here but the injury number, about 12 year. the latest on what we do know,

around 6:30 here at a crossing, in valhalla just north of the city, metro north train heading north after making one stop, collided with a jeep cherokee. for some reason, it's unclear why, the cherokee was on the tracks. we don't know why it was there. our local news chopper shows that the gates appear to be working. the female driver of that vehicle, the mta, the agency that runs the railroad, says that she was out of her vehicle when she was hit and struck instantly. six other people were killed. we learned a little bit more of the chaos of what happened immediately after. when the train hit the jeep, it hit the third rail as well, and it went right through the train car. the governor here saying, despite the tragic loss of life, it's truly amazing that more people were not killed in all of this and you also have to bear in mind, this was a packed commuter train. hundreds of people on board. the mta says roughly on an average day, 650 people or so

would be on board and most of them were able to exit the train safely and without too much chaos. >> gus, the national transportation safety board is there. we'll be learning more details about this tomorrow. the investigation will be ongoing to find out how this impact occurred. the governor said that the maximum speed in that -- for the train in that area was 60 miles an hour and in what you're seeing there, what would have prevented the train from, if you can tell us, seeing that jeep cherokee from a distance where it had enough time to close down the brakes from 60 miles an hour? >> reporter: we talked earlier in the evening about visibility and going through some of the maps here and it does appear that right before this collision there is a bit of a bend. this is not a straightaway, if you will. so if the train was going 60 miles an hour and came around the bend and all of a sudden the vehicle stopped in the tracks there, at a rate of 60 miles per hour, the engineer would have had only a minute or so to apply

the brakes and a train like this would not have stopped on a dime, obviously. and we do know that after the impact the train did keep moving and the jeep was essentially dragged about 40 feet even more underneath the train and that's what caused the explosion and the fire that you eventually saw. so obviously the engineer did not have a lot of time for whatever reason and could not stop in time after seeing that truck. >> and this is not the first problem they've had on that route north of new york. gus rosendale, wnbc, thank you very much for joining us tonight, gus, on that breaking news story. our coverage of these stories will continue after this break. rincess dress. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together.

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