M8 Collision in Bridgeport

please start a new thread and move it elsewhere

NTSB preliminary report on the derailment / collision: http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/2013 ... 042013.pdf

And here's what the media is doing with this report.

NTSB: Track defect flagged two days before derailment

A Metro-North inspector flagged a defective piece of track two days prior to last month's derailment and subsequent collision between two commuter trains in Bridgeport, but did not issue an order to immediately close the section or slow trains down.

The National Transportation Safety Board updated its findings Wednesday citing a May 15 inspection that found an insulated rail joint used to pinpoint the location of trains along the New Haven Line lacked necessary support from the underlying railbed and was moving out of alignment when trains went over it.

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/N ... 579169.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.mta.info/mta/news/books/docs ... nt5-31.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I found very interesting this portion of the preliminary report:

After the eastbound train came to rest, it was fouling the adjacent track, track 2, and was struck about 20 seconds later by the westbound train. Initial information from the event recorders indicate that the westbound train engineer applied the emergency brakes, slowing from 70 mph to 23 mph prior to striking the eastbound train.

A lot of passengers can be very thankful the engineer of the westbound train was alert and very proactive and able to reduce speed to 23 mph upon impact. His quick action undoubtedly saved some lives. Remember, the engineer on the westbound said his only warning was seeing the catenary on Track 1 come down and seeing a huge dust cloud up ahead. He very alertly, and without hesitating, 'wiped the clock' as they used to say.

Several good things happened in the bad situation. The well built M8 cars withstood the collision without it costing lives. The engineer of train #1581 dumped his train upon seeing the overhead wire being ripped down and the cloud of dust just ahead of him, also possibly saving lives. Passengers and crew members remained calm and helped each other out. Service was restored in an incredible 5 days.

Six of the cars are back in service? I'm surprised by that. I thought both sets were totally off limits regardless of damage until the investigation is complete.

runningwithscalpels wrote:Six of the cars are back in service? I'm surprised by that. I thought both sets were totally off limits regardless of damage until the investigation is complete.

Well, there were 16 cars involved and most of the westbound trains consist stayed on the rails and the head pair of the eastbound train wasn't that badly damaged by the derailment. That still leaves 10 cars being evaluated.

When my train passed last Friday, a number of the cars (not sure how many) were sitting in the yard east of Bridgeport. Here's two shots I took; click for larger versions.

Man 9152 and 9247 took big hits...

Question as an outsider looking in, but is there a threshold so to speak in damage under which a car is repaired - and overhauled - and above which it is just completely replaced? If that makes sense, do any of the cars involved and damaged in this fall under such threshold?

I mean, there has to be some point under which it is more cost effective to repair the car, or have it sent off to be overhauled, and above which it is better to get it replaced?

Based on what I've heard in the past it usually centers on frame damage or a critical amount damage to the entire car (i.e. a car gutted by fire). The age of the equipment also factors in; for example a lightly damaged M2 will probably go straight to scrap while a comparable M8 will probably be repaired. In the case of new equipment like this, I would say that as long as the damage is confined to the interior and the carbody they will probably be repaired, but a bent frame is usually a death sentence for any railcar (or any vehicle for that matter).

MNR defends it's track record (no pun intended) and good ol' Jim gives his $0.02
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013 ... 458255.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I rode through the area where the collision occurred today, and it appears that the speed restriction has been removed. Traveled both directions on track 4 and the trains were running at what appeared to be normal speed for the area.

Bill

Since Kawasaki is still making this kind of car, there is the option that at some point it may be cheaper or quicker to buy new cars than to repair some of the damaged ones. The remains of the wrecked cars should still yield spare parts, either for inventory, or for sale to the builder of the replacement cars. There may be some cost savings if a new car can be obtained faster than repairing a wrecked one, so that an older and more expensive to maintain car can be retired earlier. All this is why they have clerks and accountants, and schools to educate them.