Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, nomis, FL9AC, Jeff Smith

 #1187583  by Clean Cab
 
I am curious as to whether the damaged M8's can be repaired? If not, I wonder if they will order new cars to replace the ones that are totalled?
 #1187626  by GothySpotterBx
 
My thoughts on the matter:

I would assume that this is structural issue and not an M8 issue, as the trains are essentially brand new. I'm curious what Kawasaki will have to say about this incident. It is pretty bad that the other two tracks were already knocked out due to the upgrades to the catenary system. I am just glad that no one died, as the MTA said, this could have been a lot worse. It's fascinating just how quick the NTSB got up to Fairfield.

I am locked onto their Twitter feed, just to hear what they say about those sections of rails they sent back to DC to be analyzed.

It's pretty scary, I was actually along the exact place of the accident not two weeks ago. I was going up to Waterbury, and there was nothing of concern at all.

I guess even the best systems can have their kicks.
 #1187627  by Erie-Lackawanna
 
JimBoylan wrote:Actually, some of the photos labeled "Metro-North Railroad crews worked to repair tracks" show that MN is using Hulcher decals and insignia on safety vests, hard hats, and bulldozers. I doubt that Hulcher stocks pallets of panel track, and Metro North isn't a freight railroad, so they probably don't, either.
Hulcher assisted with railcar removal.

Jim
 #1187628  by Tommy Meehan
 
The first AM rush apparently went off pretty well.
In Bridgeport [commuters] were met with a phalanx of buses, a double row of Connecticut Transit buses parked in front of the Water Street station marked "Stamford Express'' South Norwalk and Local. Many local buses, parked across the street from the station, were to carry passengers to Fairfield and Westport. In Bridgeport, there was no eastbound service at all. The Track 4 waiting area, usually bustling at 6 a.m. was empty and a hand-lettered sign said "No New Haven trains.'' Service to New Haven resumed at 8:40 a.m. on a modified schedule, Metro North officials said, but there seemed to be few takers.
Link to CT Post news story
 #1187639  by Tommy Meehan
 
In looking at the temporary schedule, the running time from GCT to New Haven has increased about an hour. The train time to Westport is the same but there the time stretches out.

Normally an NH Line train covers Westport-Bridgeport in twenty minutes. With the bus bridge that's a seventy minute trip. The bus ride is scheduled at fifty minutes with ten minutes allowed for the transfer at each end.

Could be a lot worse.
 #1187657  by AEM7AC920
 
Tommy Meehan wrote:The first AM rush apparently went off pretty well.
In Bridgeport [commuters] were met with a phalanx of buses, a double row of Connecticut Transit buses parked in front of the Water Street station marked "Stamford Express'' South Norwalk and Local. Many local buses, parked across the street from the station, were to carry passengers to Fairfield and Westport. In Bridgeport, there was no eastbound service at all. The Track 4 waiting area, usually bustling at 6 a.m. was empty and a hand-lettered sign said "No New Haven trains.'' Service to New Haven resumed at 8:40 a.m. on a modified schedule, Metro North officials said, but there seemed to be few takers.
Link to CT Post news story
Wow first close up photos I've seen of the damage to the cars, completely nothing short of a miracle that no one was killed. Wouldn't surprise me if 1 or 2 of the cars torn open weren't scrapped, the rest of the set looks like it can be saved but who knows...
 #1187661  by SwingMan
 
The damage to the one car is very stunning. It really is a miracle that no one was killed from this incident. It makes you realize how quickly things can go wrong and that you shouldn't taken any moment for granted.
 #1187669  by Clean Cab
 
The credit for the low amount of injuries and no fatalities goes to the new M8's being built to the FRA's crash worthiness standards. I believe this is the first real word test of the standards and the M8s seem to have met and exceeded them with flying colors.
Last edited by Clean Cab on Mon May 20, 2013 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1187699  by Tommy Meehan
 
It is amazing no one was killed, although one passenger remained in critical condition as of last night, because the trains were both moving at 70 mph when they hit. That's a lot of force.

In fact one rider said her immediate reaction was that a bomb had gone off in the front of the car.

Btw the FBI was on-scene Friday night to determine if there was any evidence this could've been a deliberate act. To me that was a smart move. (They determined it wasn't.)
 #1187720  by 7express
 
Tommy Meehan wrote:It is amazing no one was killed, although one passenger remained in critical condition as of last night, because the trains were both moving at 70 mph when they hit. That's a lot of force.

In fact one rider said her immediate reaction was that a bomb had gone off in the front of the car.

Btw the FBI was on-scene Friday night to determine if there was any evidence this could've been a deliberate act. To me that was a smart move. (They determined it wasn't.)

In most of these cases (at least in plane crashes) the FBI gets there first to determine if it was a deliberate act. If they find out it was deliberate, they have jurisdiction on the investigation not the NTSB. If it wasn't (like this one), they cede the investigation to the NTSB, so I'm sure its general practice in all cases like that.

Luckily no one was killed or looks like even seriously injured.
 #1187724  by Amtrak7
 
http://new.mta.info/mta-metro-north-rai ... ay-morning

-Service is expected to resume with the Wednesday AM rush
-1,200 bused in AM peak
-1,500 bused in midday
-NH, Milford, Stratford AM peak ridership down 80%
-Entire NHL down 20%
-Harlem up 6%
-One section of track construction is complete. The other section, signals, and catenary remain.
 #1187732  by MNCRR9000
 
That's impressive that MNRR will resume full service by the Wednesday morning commute. Originally they were predicting that it would be a couple weeks before service would resume.
 #1187738  by Jersey_Mike
 
CTRailfan wrote:
DutchRailnut wrote:If the rail broke under train, it would not trip any signal.
Yeah, exactly. The only way a signal system could pick it up was if it has broken under the previous train, but not derailed it, but in this case, a good portion of the train went over it before it derailed. That, and they were extremely unlucky that they happened to have a train passing them right at that moment. Another minute and the other train would have had time to hear the derailment on the radio and slam the brakes on.
Breaks at old fashioned rail joints also cannot be detected by track circuits. Here some NTSB folks are standing around one such joint with a rather clean break in it.
Last edited by Jersey_Mike on Mon May 20, 2013 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1187746  by kitn1mcc
 
krispy wrote:The LIRR had a break recently and due to the bonding still holding on the next train ran over it at MAS. Fortunately it was an equipment move and no one was seriously hurt. It took them a week to clean that one up too. Sometimes things happen no matter what safeguards you have in place.

bonds to tight they snap easy too loose and this happends
  • 1
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 16