While the precise cause of Tuesday night's crash remains to be determined, experts from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) believe the derailment would have been prevented by installation of an advanced safety system called "positive train control," NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said.

The engineer of the New York City-bound passenger train applied the locomotive's emergency braking system just after entering the curved stretch of track, where the maximum allowed speed is 50 miles per hour (80 km per hour), Sumwalt said.

But the brakes managed to only slightly slow the train to 102 mph from 106 mph (171 kph) before the locomotive and all seven passenger cars derailed, he said.

Authorities have offered no explanation for why the locomotive was traveling at more than double the authorized speed.