>> sometimes you have a momentary nod. how long that was, i don't know. but he caught himself too late. >> reporter: andrew cuomo said this to a public radio station. >> there was no track problem or equipment failure. and this is a serious situation. the operator has rights, but there's questions of liability. >> major train wreck. five cars on their side. >> reporter: federal investigators say the train was traveling 82 miles an hour in a curved stretch of track zoned for 30. the brakes weren't applied until seconds before the train came to a stop. >> simply put, based on this data, there's no indication that the brake systems were not functioning properly. >> alcohol tests for the engineer have come back negative.