Hoboken, New Jersey: Federal investigators have still not inspected the train that slammed into a busy transportation hub here on Thursday, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 others, because of the extensive damage at the scene of the crash, officials said on Friday.

A day after the crash set off a panic at the station during the morning commute, federal investigators have provided few answers about why the train careened into a wall. On Friday evening, officials said they had not yet interviewed the train’s engineer or examined most of the train.

Jim Southworth, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said he had not sent investigators into the front of the train because of concerns over asbestos and the structural integrity of the building. The damage from the train’s impact caused part of the terminal’s roof to collapse.

“Because of the asbestos, because of the unsettled structures that we’re not sure about, I’m not allowing anybody to go in there,” Southworth said at a news conference on Friday. “None of the evidence in there is perishable, so I have the time to go in there.”

Federal investigators said they could not estimate when the historic station, Hoboken Terminal, might reopen or when they would remove the train from the tracks, prompting questions over how long New Jersey Transit’s train service to the station might remain suspended.

Officials were still working to schedule an interview with the train’s engineer, Thomas Gallagher, who was injured Thursday, said Bella Dinh-Zarr, the vice chairwoman of the safety board. The results of his toxicology report were not yet available, she said.

While investigators removed the event recorder from the locomotive in the rear of the train, they were not able to download the information on it and sent it to the manufacturer for assistance. The recorder is an important device that can reveal how fast the train was travelling.

The safety board planned to spend as many as 10 days at the scene of the crash as part of the investigation, which could take a year to complete. The board will review several possible factors, including the engineer’s actions, the train’s maintenance and the railroad’s tracks and signals.

The train’s crew had been cooperative, and investigators were scheduling interviews with two other train crew members — a conductor and a brakeman, officials said.

At the station, part of the collapsed roof was resting on top of the front of the train.

“As you can imagine we don’t want anyone to go in there until it’s completely stable,” Dinh-Zarr said.

Another obstacle facing investigators is the likely presence of asbestos inside the 109-year-old Beaux-Arts building that houses Hoboken Terminal, Dinh-Zarr said.

On Friday, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey told reporters that New Jersey Transit has an exemplary safety record. Still, he added, “No accident is acceptable and so we have to get to the bottom of what happened and I promise you that we will.”

Later in the day, Christie, a Republican, announced a deal to finance the transportation trust fund, which pays for mass transit projects, roads and bridges. The governor had received criticism over funding for the railroad after the crash.

The closing of Hoboken Terminal, which serves six New Jersey Transit rail lines, forced commuters to make do with contingency plans provided by New Jersey Transit, the third-busiest commuter rail system in the country. New Jersey Transit officials said they could not restart service until receiving approval from the safety board.

If train service at the station remains suspended for days or weeks, many New Jerseyans could be forced to consider painful travel options and heavy crowds on other train lines and buses.

On Friday morning, many commuters braved long and complicated commutes into New York and other areas, facing a confusing slate of schedule changes, delays and cancellations with a mixture of weariness, frustration and stoicism.

Many, like Maulik Pokiya, were determined not to let the disaster keep them from getting where they needed to be. Pokiya was a passenger on the train as it ploughed into Hoboken Terminal, watching out the window of the second car as electrical wires were being ripped loose from their holds and were flashing sparks. The terror had yet to fade from his mind.

Though he was given the option to work form home, Pokiya was back on another train Friday. He climbed aboard in Oradell, New Jersey, and was joined by his brother, who usually takes a later train but was providing emotional support.

“Since I was safe, I’m not worried,” Pokiya said. “I was feeling scared, but anything can happen.”