Derailment in Montclair

Let me fix that for you ...

SecaucusJunction wrote:If this was a freight railroad, the track would be up and running the next day.

How can a minimal derailment shut down the railroad for a day while everyone in Montclair is forced to take the stinkbuggy to get to their precious destinations?

What a disgrace...

Mod note: Let us know if you have anymore info. Otherwise we're locking it up so we don't have to listen to Secaucas Junction work out his NJT issues.

#writeyourcongressman

Unlocked for new news, please keep it civil. We're approaching the weekend and so the strict liability rule is in play - act like a jerk, get a vacation.

Thanks! (and thanks to the members who alerted us to the news!)

Two concrete ties that buckled or cracked are blamed. As a result NJT has replaced 1100 concrete ties in that area. From NJ.com-
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/0 ... _line.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

philipmartin wrote:Two concrete ties that buckled or cracked are blamed. As a result NJT has replaced 1100 concrete ties in that area. From NJ.com-
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/0 ... _line.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That explains why there was work being done on both tracks.

hmm and who said what about Metro North

This leaves three questions.
1. Did the ties buckle or crack? They are not even that similar.
2. Why did they buckle or crack?
3. When did they buckle or crack?

DutchRailnut wrote:hmm and who said what about Metro North

Actually the FRA and NTSB has a lot to say about Metro North. Honestly I think Njt does an excellent job with its trackwork. Considering the amount of trains they run, there track record is pretty good.

BuddSilverliner269 wrote: Considering the amount of trains they run, there track record is pretty good.

So was Metro North's until s**t hit the fan...

To get things back on topic.

As for the defective ties, we see this type of corruption all the time in Nj. Some mafioso firm selling sub par materials via government contracts. No big surprise.

Question is, was that the cause of the derailment and, more importantly, do we have an problems elsewhere, in areas where it may cause more of an issue. Such as the NEC for example.

Nuff said...

sean3f wrote:To get things back on topic.

As for the defective ties, we see this type of corruption all the time in Nj. Some mafioso firm selling sub par materials via government contracts. No big surprise.

Question is, was that the cause of the derailment and, more importantly, do we have an problems elsewhere, in areas where it may cause more of an issue. Such as the NEC for example.

I doubt the NEC has the same ties as the Montclair Connection, as Amtrak and not NJT owns and maintains the NEC.

The question is, were the ties the cause of the derailment? The ties cannot be the ultimate cause but could be a proximate cause. If the ties had defects, why where they not caught. If they received damage, what damaged them, and when was it detectable.

It seems to me they replaced over a thousand of ties because they had no clue as to what the problem was.

maybe they just replaced a bad batch of ties, maybe they figure those failed unexpectedly, so we might as well replace that whole shipment.

They replaced everything between two grade crossings. "Might as well while we have the track out" seems to be the real reason. Nothing more.

zerovanity59 wrote:

sean3f wrote:To get things back on topic.

As for the defective ties, we see this type of corruption all the time in Nj. Some mafioso firm selling sub par materials via government contracts. No big surprise.

Question is, was that the cause of the derailment and, more importantly, do we have an problems elsewhere, in areas where it may cause more of an issue. Such as the NEC for example.

I doubt the NEC has the same ties as the Montclair Connection, as Amtrak and not NJT owns and maintains the NEC.

The question is, were the ties the cause of the derailment? The ties cannot be the ultimate cause but could be a proximate cause. If the ties had defects, why where they not caught. If they received damage, what damaged them, and when was it detectable.

It seems to me they replaced over a thousand of ties because they had no clue as to what the problem was.

Maybe they had a batch from the same company that sold Metro-North, LIRR and Amtrak defective ties. If the ties crack at the right place (where the rail is joined) it could indeed cause a rail spread underneath the train. Additionally, it is not uncommon for railroads to share (read sell off) excessive supplies. Indeed, if you were ever able to walk Secaucus Junction and its associated interlockings, you'd notice they are littered with NJT ties.

My guess is jlr3266 is correct. They replaced everything in the section (batch) as precautionary.

ThirdRail7 wrote: Maybe they had a batch from the same company that sold Metro-North, LIRR and Amtrak defective ties. If the ties crack at the right place (where the rail is joined) it could indeed cause a rail spread underneath the train. Additionally, it is not uncommon for railroads to share (read sell off) excessive supplies. Indeed, if you were ever able to walk Secaucus Junction and its associated interlockings, you'd notice they are littered with NJT ties.

My guess is jlr3266 is correct. They replaced everything in the section (batch) as precautionary.

If they were from the same company as other defective ties, why were they not removed earlier? Replacing the entire batch is not a longer term solution. It does nothing to prevent future bad batches. The railroads need a better quality control system. Experience has shown that the manufactures cannot be trusted in quality control matters.