Track inspection found problems days before Conn. crash

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board says a track inspection found problems two days before a train derailed in Connecticut and injured more than 70 people.

The NTSB said Wednesday that the May 15 inspection found a rail joint with inadequate supporting ballast and indications of vertical movement of the track.

The agency says rail sections were shipped to a lab for further examination.

Marjorie Anders, a Metro-North spokeswoman, says the ballast is loose stone and the railroad constantly makes sure it's packed tightly so the track doesn't go up and down slightly when a train passes. She says the inspection noted the issue but it wasn't deemed an immediate problem.

NTSB has previously said a joint bar, used to hold two sections of rail together, had been cracked and repaired. The railroad says it was replaced.