Amtrak NEC Delay and Service Disruption Thread

[STrRedWolf]

I cannot possibly imagine that Amtrak would EVER consider single-tracking ANY segment of the NEC

Temporary Single tracking means other track(s) CAT is down!

Ether that or they shut those CATs down for worker safety while they deal with the inside track CAT.

[west point]

Something to consider. When workers are replacing a snag would traffic on remaining track(s) be slowed to prevent another snag? Another snag near a dead section of CAT could cause an unanticipated live wire situation on an otherwise dead section of CAT. So, does Amtrak slow traffic on the live sections to reduce chance of another snag.?

This IMO is one of the major deficiencies of the PRR style of CAT instasllations.

[JuniusLivonius]

Ether that or they shut those CATs down for worker safety while they deal with the inside track CAT.

Something to consider. When workers are replacing a snag would traffic on remaining track(s) be slowed to prevent another snag? Another snag near a dead section of CAT could cause an unanticipated live wire situation on an otherwise dead section of CAT. So, does Amtrak slow traffic on the live sections to reduce chance of another snag.?

This IMO is one of the major deficiencies of the PRR style of CAT instasllations.

I've been working on gathering documents including cab footage from the April 15th incident because I wanted to throw it all together in a "live replay" video since I have the radio traffic capture and now cab footage at least from the NJ Transit trains. (Amtrak claims to not have preserved footage from its own train, 2170) I'm just waiting for a few pieces of information before I start editing things together.




I just got the incident summary last week. You are free to request other ones through Amtrak's FOIA portal but be specific. (hello news outlets, you can do this too) I want to answer your specific question, but since this is also the "release" of this document and it fits into the bigger picture here, I want to clarify a few things about it. There were a few mistakes in the first paragraph:
- 3723 had no idea there was any pantograph damage until both 3947 and 2170 passed B-165 within 5 seconds of each other at 5:18:35PM and broke their pantographs
- 3947 dropped pantograph at the same time as breaking part of that pantograph
- "Power director lost power on 3 track" might actually refer what was a short or low voltage condition (some or all tracks) at first - 3947 (and presumably 2170) was back with power restored and accelerating until it struck the broken hangar

Every other train was forced to use track 1. In this specific case there were "no exceptions" taken to track 1 (tracks 2, 3 and 4 all had visible damage) but as you can see at 8:49PM trains were given drop pantograph orders in order to pass on track 1. I believe this was due to a violent shake reported by a train and not a prerequisite or precaution for adjacent catenary repair, as the cat car didn't arrive until 9:36PM. Given the interconnected nature of fixed termination catenary, it's possible this drop pantograph order would be given anyway when workers started work.

See that additional info section at the end of the text box on page 2? At 11PM the engineer of 3169 (Arrow III MUs) forgot to drop pantographs, shorted the still-live catenary on track 1 multiple times and knocked some things over right next to the cat car. If I'm reading the report correctly, this knocked out the last of any 4 tracks and all train traffic for 3 hours. I know someone who got this on video (incredible luck) but we're waiting on getting all the information first to make a video in order for it to be accurate and complete. It's an arduous progress with research still ongoing.

Now, back to your direct question: they should be grounding the wires before touching them or being near them. They can use a pair of clamps with a wire and connect to the rail. The idea is that any accidental voltage will short directly to the rail and pop a circuit breaker, exactly like the grounding conductor in the electrical code for your average residential or light commercial building. I believe it's on both sides of wherever they're working so they're protected against accidental energization from either direction. When 3169 violated the drop pantograph order, the perfect example for your question, the biggest risk was probably getting slapped by the whipping wires.

On a side note but also related to my information gathering outlined above: I'm waiting to see if NJ Transit or Amtrak has more information about the catenary damage incidents of 2024. The last "monthly" (also first) Amtrak-NJT joint update from August (reporting period July - August) claimed there would be more information in the next edition. A few people have hinted at Arrow IIIs being more likely to cause incidents due to their large number of pantographs every 1 or 2 cars.

Teaser / information request from any experts or insiders: some brief "field" observation revealed that Arrow IIIs (possibly applies to all types of trains) have worse pantograph centering when stopped (contact wire is only about 1 inch from the edge of the carbon strip) versus in motion at the specific catenary span (B-166) involved in the April incident. This could also apply at any curve of similar radius and cant deficiency. The tight curve, temperature elevation over the previous 24 hours, light wind, density of pantographs (8 or so pantographs on 12 MUs) and sudden/hard penalty brake application could have all been factors. Based on the same "1 inch" observation it seems like it would take very little effort to force the pantograph over the contact wire on a stopped or slow-moving train.

[twropr]

What happened in Washington on Sunday the 15th? Apparently it affected the lower level since Acela 2265 arrived on the Upp level at 4:30 pm at 4:32 pm (2 min early), but Boston-Newport News 99, which left BWI 11 min after, 2265, arrived the lower level at 6:03 pm - having been held out for "track maintenance and signal problems." Norfolk-NY 158 was held at Virgina Ave. because K Tower couldn't take him. A number of other trains were held in the station or departed late that afternoon/evening. Broken rail? Switch problems? Derailment?
In answer of STRRedWolf's question about the ATV strike (he asked it on the Bush River thread), Regional 149 hit it near the MARC Martins station north of Baltimore.
Andy.

[scratchyX1]

What happened in Washington on Sunday the 15th? Apparently it affected the lower level since Acela 2265 arrived on the Upp level at 4:30 pm at 4:32 pm (2 min early), but Boston-Newport News 99, which left BWI 11 min after, 2265, arrived the lower level at 6:03 pm - having been held out for "track maintenance and signal problems." Norfolk-NY 158 was held at Virgina Ave. because K Tower couldn't take him. A number of other trains were held in the station or departed late that afternoon/evening. Broken rail? Switch problems? Derailment?
In answer of STRRedWolf's question about the ATV strike (he asked it on the Bush River thread), Regional 149 hit it near the MARC Martins station north of Baltimore.
Andy.

One article said they wrecked the Atv, and then got hit trying to upright it.
Why would one take an ATV near 100mph trains?

[STrRedWolf]

One article said they wrecked the Atv, and then got hit trying to upright it.
Why would one take an ATV near 100mph trains?

Stupidity. It was reported that the two were zooming down the tracks on the ATV.

[PRRTechFan]

Darwin Awards?

[scratchyX1]

One article said they wrecked the Atv, and then got hit trying to upright it.
Why would one take an ATV near 100mph trains?

Stupidity. It was reported that the two were zooming down the tracks on the ATV.

Their families better not sue. I feel that once you've ignored the no trespassing signs, you loose legal rights in this case.
This is not people crossing tracks blocked by parked 1 mile plus trains, it's the damn NEC.

[JuniusLivonius]

Yesterday morning and afternoon (9/25) sure sounded fun.


https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2024/09/25/A/51

Amtrak #51 broke its pantographs near Rahway at 7:15AM... a few interesting radio things I recorded...

6:56AM - #3818 inspected pantograph at Metropark and reported chips in the carbon strip on the rear pantograph. Engineer reported the last pantograph inspection at Metuchen so it seemed like they only made a determination at Metropark after taking another look.

(#3818 departs Trenton at 6:11AM so I doubt this is related to anything else but it was 20 minutes before everything else)

6:59AM - #3708 told to inspect catenary Metuchen - Metropark

I believe #3710 comes in as X375 (employee deadhead from NY - scheduled arrival at County/Jersey Ave at 7:01AM)
X375 passes Union at 6:25AM by schedule, however extra NJ Transit trains have unpredictable schedule adherence and are often padded.

7:00AM - #3710 to NJT County mechanical - car 1516 "middle of the train" is dead

7:10AM - #3710 ready off the branch, 12 multiple units (Jersey Ave)

7:14AM - #3708 reports no exceptions to catenary

The above information is speculatively relevant. I don't ultimately know if it's related but it seems interesting, especially with X375-#3710.

7:15AM - Amtrak #51 tries contacting CETC-9 (2 or 3 times)

7:15:45AM - Amtrak #51 reports broken pantograph alarm coming through Union track 3 (Rahway)

7:17:00AM - Amtrak #51 reports train stopped (can't hear location)

7:17:30AM - #3708 ordered to stop

7:18AM - #3708 told to inspect catenary on track 3 (from 1)

7:19AM - #51 reports pantograph ripped in half

7:22AM - #51 reports other pantograph broken and says they're just east of Roads

7:22:30AM - NJT #3505 reports "something on track 3 hanging below the contact wire around 18.75"

7:27AM - X377 ordered to operate AMT-2 2.601 between Elmora and Iselin

7:26AM - X377 to rescue passengers from #51 track 3 to 4

7:44AM - KN720 (daily, morning maintenance train from Adams Yard) is ready to depart / "[interference] you're [who?] not going to be doing the passenger transfer off of 51"

7:45AM - KN720 will be rescuing #51 but will be held until ET (Electric Traction) approval (although they left a minute later anyway)

7:59AM - Passenger transfer complete

I don't care to sort the rest of radio communications as I was only interested how it started. I'm not trying to analyze the delay itself unless someone is curious.

So was this actually another Arrow III disaster but nobody realized it? I wonder why #3710 had a "dead car" and whether X375 is the same trainset coming in. Pantograph damage (by rule?) is supposed to be followed up by some sort of lookback into the territory which the train had covered and into all trains that had previously traveled through there. I don't think #3710 reported pantograph damage.







https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2024/09/25/A/133

Amtrak 133 derailed leaving Track 10 at Penn Station - transitdocs states it departed 1:57PM (sourced from Amtrak data) and a location point also appeared at 3:50PM in Sunnyside. I have no idea why there's a location point in New Jersey when the train shouldn't have gotten that far.

[twropr]

On September 25 at approx. 1:59 pm, as Washington-bound Regional 133 was leaving Penn Station ACS-64 632, which was pulling the train derailed its front trucks when it reached the lead between the station tracks and main track leading to the North River Tunnel. There were no injuries, and passengers were able to exit the train thru the rear car, which was still adjacent to the platform for Track 10. Needless to say, #133 was canceled, which led to the cancelation of #196 from Washington. Boston-Norfolk Regional 93, which was scheduled to depart Penn Station 5” after #133, had to make a reverse move to clear JO interlocking, then proceeding west via another route around the disabled train, and incurring a 51” delay.

[STrRedWolf]

On Sept 26th, some delays happened as MARC was forced to stay on track 1 heading northbound, as Amtrak needed to do some track work on track A by Halethorpe. This may of caused delays yesterday.

[NortheastTrainMan]

This past Saturday, October 5, 2024, I rode Amtrak Keystone 669.
IIRC All was "well" until near Trenton. Between Trenton & Philly we would crawl, then run, then crawl again & crawl some more.
We were due in Philly at 6:36pm, but didn't reach until near 7:20pm.

For what it's worth, I took a look at AmtrakNECAlerts Twitter Page & saw the following tweets:
- https://x.com/AmtrakNECAlerts/status/1842697725629874279
- https://x.com/AmtrakNECAlerts/status/1842743118392664215
- https://x.com/AmtrakNECAlerts/status/1842685654590713957

SEPTA's Trenton Line Twitter only mentioned delays for trains 1725, 9785 & & 1733:
- https://x.com/SEPTA_TRE

As per Amtrak's NEC Delays Twitter, there was some sort of police and firefighter activity near the tracks. Any details?

[west point]

NEC
Delays between Philadelphia 30th st (PHL) and Wilmington (WIL)
October 14, 2024 05:30 PM


Trains traveling between Philadelphia 30th st (PHL) and Wilmington (WIL) are experiencing delays due to fire department activity. Authorities have placed a hold on all tracks in the area. We are on standby, awaiting crews and authorities to determine an estimated time for operations to resume. Customers traveling in the impacted area should expect delays of at least 60 minutes. This delay time has the potential to increase as we are awaiting additional details from the scene. We will post updates as they become available. We appreciate your patience as we work through this unforeseen service disruption.

Customers with reservations on affected trains will typically be accommodated on trains with similar departure times or another day. Amtrak will waive additional charges for customers looking to change their reservation during the modified schedule by calling our reservation center at 1-800-USA-RAIL or utilizing our self-service options.

Follow us on X for real-time service information:
• @AmtrakNECAlerts for service information in the Northeast Corridor (Acela, Northeast Regional, and other corridor services).
• @AmtrakAlerts for service information outside the Northeast Corridor.

Subscribe at Amtrak.com/DelayAlerts to receive automated email or text message notifications if Amtrak trains are behind schedule at specific stations.

This information is correct as of the time and date above. Information is subject to change as conditions warrant.

[JuniusLivonius]

NJT #3963 had a fatal trespasser strike at Rahway at 7:46PM

All-track hold cancelled 8:31PM

#3879 is coming up to #3963 to take the passengers (8:38PM); passenger transfer completed at about 9:25PM.

[lensovet]

NJT #3963 had a fatal trespasser strike at Rahway at 7:46PM

All-track hold cancelled 8:31PM

#3879 is coming up to #3963 to take the passengers (8:38PM); passenger transfer completed at about 9:25PM.

Is it just me or is it nuts that it takes nearly an hour to transfer passengers?