http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nyc-train-derailment-kills-4-hurts-more-than-60/2013/12/01/fb8e3a0e-5ae8-11e3-801f-1f90bf692c9b_story.html
http://nypost.com/2013/12/02/train-was-going-82-mph-before-derailing-ntsb/
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Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/01/2013 09:19 -0500
http://nypost.com/2013/12/02/train-was-going-82-mph-before-derailing-ntsb/
Derailed train was going 82 mph as it approached 30 mph curve: NTSB
A commuter train that derailed over the weekend, killing four passengers, was hurtling at 82 mph as it entered a 30 mph curve, a federal investigator said Monday. But whether the wreck was the result of human error or brake trouble was still unclear, he said.
Asked why the train was going so fast, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said: “That’s the question we need to answer.”
Weener said the information on the locomotive’s speed was preliminary and extracted from the Metro-North train’s two data recorders, taken from the wreckage after the Sunday morning accident in the Bronx.
While the cause of the crash remains unclear, Weener said the train was going too fast at 82 miles per hour before hitting the curve.
“The zone leading up to that curve is 70 miles per hour and yes, there was an excess of speed,” Weener said.
He also said investigators had begun interviewing the crew members, but he would not disclose what the engineer had told them.
Weener said the throttle went to idle six seconds before the derailed train came to a complete stop — “very late in the game” for a train going that fast — and the brakes were fully engaged five seconds before the train stopped.
He said investigators were also examining the engineer’s cellphone — apparently to determine whether he was operating the train while distracted.
Asked whether the tragedy was the result of human error or faulty brakes, Weener said: “The answer is, at this point in time, we can’t tell.”
As investigators mined the data recorders for information, workers righted the fallen cars along the curve, a bend so sharp that the speed limit during the approach drops from 70 mph to 30 mph.
The wreck came two years before the federal government’s deadline for Metro-North and other railroads to install automatic-slowdown technology designed to prevent catastrophic accidents. But with the cause of Sunday’s wreck unknown, it was not clear whether the technology would have made a difference.
The engineer, William Rockefeller, was injured and “is totally traumatized by everything that has happened,” said Anthony Bottalico, executive director of the rail employees union. He said Rockefeller, 46, was cooperating fully with investigators.
“He’s a sincere human being with an impeccable record that I know of. He’s diligent and competent,” Bottalico said. Rockefeller has been an engineer for about 11 years and a Metro-North employee for about 20, he said.
The NTSB has been urging railroads for decades to install technology that can stop wrecks caused by excessive speed or other problems. Congress in 2008 required dozens of railroads, including Metro-North, to install the “positive train control” systems by 2015.
But the systems are expensive and complicated and cannot prevent an accident if there is a brake failure. Railroads are trying to push back the deadline a few years.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs Metro-North, awarded $428 million in contracts in September to develop the system for Metro-North and its sister Long Island Rail Road. But the MTA has asked for an extension on the deadline to 2018, saying it faces technological and other hurdles in installing such a system across more than 1,000 rail cars and 1,200 miles of track.
While the train’s seven cars and locomotive were gradually returned to their tracks Monday, the 26,000 weekday riders on the railroad’s affected Hudson Line faced a complicated commute.
Many used shuttle buses and cars to get to work. But no major delays were reported during the early rush hour, railroad spokesman Aaron Donovan said.
Marketing worker Leanne Bloom normally takes the Hudson Line to work but drove to a stop on another line instead. She was surprised to find the train nearly empty.
“I was expecting long lines” at the station, she said. “But I made it very easily.”
On Sunday, the train was about half full, with about 150 people aboard, when it ran off the rails around 7:20 a.m. while rounding a bend where the Harlem and Hudson rivers meet. The lead car landed inches from the water. In addition to the four people killed, more than 60 were injured.
Many victims had been released from hospitals by Monday afternoon.
Seven were still in an intensive-care unit at St. Barnabas Hospital, some with spinal injuries, emergency department director Dr. David Listman said. And two patients were reported in critical condition at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
The injured included five police officers who were heading to work, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a 14-year-old boy who was taking a weekend ride with his father on the same train the youngster usually takes to school.
The train’s assistant conductor, Maria Herbert, suffered an eye injury and a broken collarbone, Bottalico said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on NBC’s “Today” show that he thinks speed will turn out to be a factor in a crash he called “your worst nightmare.”
The MTA identified the dead as Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring; James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose; and Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens. Three of the dead were found outside the train; one was inside.
Lovell, an audio technician who had worked the “Today” show and other NBC programs, was traveling to Manhattan to work on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, longtime friend Janet Barton said. The tree-lighting ceremony is Wednesday night.
“He always had a smile on his face and was quick to share a friendly greeting,” ”Today” executive producer Don Nash said in a message to staffers.
The derailment came amid a troubled year for Metro-North, and marked the first time in the railroad’s 31-year history that a passenger was killed in an accident.
In May, a train derailed in Bridgeport, Conn., and was struck by a train coming in the opposite direction, injuring 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor. In July, a freight train full of garbage derailed near the site of Sunday’s wreck.
and....
Four Dead, 48 Injured As Train Derails In The Bronx
Shortly after 7 am Eastern time on Sunday, Metropolitan Transportation Authority police confirmed that a Metro-North train derailed near the Hudson river in the Bronx. The accident occurred near Palisade Avenue near the Spuyten Duyvil railroad station. Photos taken of the accident scene show eight cars derailed. Edwin Valero was in an apartment building above the accident scene when the train derailed, the WSJ reports. He says none of the cars went into a nearby body of water, but at least one ended up a few feet from the edge. Rebecca Schwartz was at a nearby park when the accident occurred. She says she didn't see or hear the derailment but looked across the water when she heard emergency vehicle sirens. She says numerous emergency vehicles have responded to the scene.
The most recent injury report from NBC has 4 dead and 48 injured in the derailment.
Metro-North passenger train derails in NYC, plunges into river
A Metro-North passenger train has derailed in the Bronx area of New York City, with a number of injuries being reported. Several cars plunged into the river Hudson, authorities said.
Rebecca Schwartz, a witness at the scene, told the AP news agency that some of the carriages were submerged in water and that numerous emergency vehicles were at the scene.
The derailment happened just north of Manhattan on Sunday morning.
The line involved in the accident serves Metro-North’s Hudson line, which serves dormer towns like Croton-Harmon, Peekskill, Ossining and Yonkers.
Metro North said in a tweet that the service on the line is currently suspended.
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