at the ntsb lab today we talked to debbie hersman. >> fatigue has been an issue. we've seen many rail accidents where fatigue has been a factor. sometimes working split shifts on the commuter side, sometimes working around the clock on those freight operations, working through the night. >> the ntsb has pushed for technology fix, including videorecorders in train cab and positive automatic braking systems. over industry objections, it is set to be mandatory in two years. tonight the nypd and prosecutors are asking a difficult question. >> there is a collaborative effort to determine if in fact this rises to the level of criminality. >> reporter: whether falling asleep on the job is criminally negligent. >>> and we mentioned this at the top of the broadcast there's a massive rescue mission under way off the coast of florida to rescue dozens of stranded pilot whales. mark potter has a rate report from everglades national park. >> reporter: our journey to find the strapped whales began in the back country of the everglades national park where we sped through creeks a

joining me is debbie hersman. what can you tell me about the investigation right now. and thank you for being with us. >> caller: good afternoon. we have a go team that's in route right now to the accident scene. they will hit the ground running. they are experts in the work that they do. we have folks focusing on operation, track, human factor, crash worthiness and survivability, they're also going to be looking to focus on that area. o we're going to look for any black box type recorders on board the tran. the signal system to see if there's any information there. and our operations team will be looking at the dispatchers, at the operators. so we've got a lot of work to do. we don't have a lot of daylight hours to do it, but we're going to do as much as we can, certainly, as we get on scene to see what happened to prevent it from happening again. >> it sounds like a lot of work for you guys in the days ahead. this was a push-pull car. eight cars total. can you say, the engine was at the rear of the train. can you say anything about the safetiness or the ability of th

ken wayne just told me a few moments ago that debbie hersman, the ntsb chairman, she will be giving aws conference at 1:30 pacific. that's 4:30 eastern. right before the dinner break. so we will hear from her about how this hearing is going before it does wrap up. later tonight. kyla campbell, ktvu channel 2 news. >> another issue set to be addressed during a hearing today is the response by local firefighters. the authorities had said that a 16-year-old passenger died when a responding fire truck ran over her on the runway but how she got out of the plane and onto the runway is still not clear. the safety board has been studying video from cameras on the fire trucks to try to get some answers. as kyla mentioned, ken wain is in washington, d.c., he's sitting in and listening to the hearings right now. we'll have live reports throughout the day. this was supposed to be a two- day hearing. yesterday's was canceled because of the weather. they are consolidating it into a one-day hearing all day today. you can follow ken on twitter for real-time updates. >>> 8:07. happening later today --