Major derailment @ Spuyten Duyvil

For those following this thread from outside of the MN forum there is a new thread with safety recommendations from the NTSB.

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 7&t=155006" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MNRR recently completed signal improvements at key locations along its network.

http://new.mta.info/news-metro-north-me ... curves-and" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also per the rebuild thread, 225 has been released by investigators and is being prepared to go out to GE in Erie, PA

Any updates on the status of the Shoreliner/Comet II coaches involved?

As per that same above mentioned thread, the remaining equipment from the 12/1 derailment is still being held for investigation.

The Chicago wreck has nothing to do with this thread or this forum. Keep this thread on topic. Don't make parallels to Chicago where there are none. Chicago comments have been deleted.

Kevin

MNCRR9000 wrote:MNRR recently completed signal improvements at key locations along its network.

http://new.mta.info/news-metro-north-me ... curves-and" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Improvements? It certainly isn't an improvement with the constant cab signal drops for the curves and bridges now. The entire NHV line is a disgrace. Now with these cab drops, you have to do even more guessing if you're following a train, diverting etc.

William Rockefeller was reportedly suffering from a sleep disorder that put him at risk of "zoning out."

A report by the National Transportation Safety Board set to be released this week says William Rockefeller's sleep apnea was aggravated after a schedule change just before the crash that moved him to an early morning shift, The New York Times reported. Rockefeller's attorney shared his medical records with NTSB investigators. Sleep apnea is a condition that involves disruptions in breathing that can lead to daytime drowsiness, according to The New York Times.

The risk with people suffering this disorder is they apparently "don't feel themselves falling asleep." Recall Rockefeller said he had the feeling "something had happened" just prior to the accident. As was suggested here earlier, that's a classic reaction from someone suffering sleep apnea or a micro sleep event.

ETA - Link to Times article

Here is the link to the NTSB report:
http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/hitli ... N=94891247

I have Sleep Apnea and can attest to falling asleep in the middle of the day without any knowledge. I've fallen of my chair while looking at the computer.

I had a sleep study done and found out that I wake from my sleep 55 times an hour. I was never getting enough sleep even though I was in bed for 6 hours.

I now have a APAP machine that keeps me from waking up so often. I no longer doze off in the middle of the day. Thank goodness I never dozed off while driving.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A Metro-North employee paralyzed in the deadly train derailment in the Bronx has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the railroad.

Metro-North heating and air conditioning mechanic Samuel Rivera, 39, was aboard the Manhattan-bound train on Dec. 1 when it derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station.

The lawsuit says Rivera suffered injuries including spinal cord damage that resulted in quadriplegia. Four people were also killed in the crash and 70 others were injured.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/09/ ... erailment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MNCRR9000 wrote:

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A Metro-North employee paralyzed in the deadly train derailment in the Bronx has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the railroad.

Metro-North heating and air conditioning mechanic Samuel Rivera, 39, was aboard the Manhattan-bound train on Dec. 1 when it derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station.

The lawsuit says Rivera suffered injuries including spinal cord damage that resulted in quadriplegia. Four people were also killed in the crash and 70 others were injured.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/09/ ... erailment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I generally favor employees in this regard but give me a break, one hundred million dollars????? If this person was a Metro-North employee riding on a pass he had to sign the pass as well as paperwork with the company that he assumes all risk of injury while using such pass for transportation. He might get something and he might not get anything.
Noel Weaver

It seems a lot, but the lifetime care costs for someone with quadriplegia are going to be a lot. However I have no idea whether 100 million is a realistic figure. I don't really see that him being an employee should make any difference, and certainly being an employee should not mean that there is any less duty of care to him.

Agreed, depending on what they're doing for care, it's not cheap. Private pay rates on a private room at the long-term care facility I worked at were nearly $400/day, and that's just room and board and nursing care, not meds. (Bear in mind, that figure is from about five years ago though, I'm sure it's far more now!) If his family is able to keep him at home with private duty nurses and aides it might be a a *little* cheaper, but not by much!

It's doubtful that a lifetime of care would total $100 million, but he's now a quadriplegic, so I can't say I blame him for suing for that much, regardless of being an employee or not.

runningwithscalpels wrote: It's doubtful that a lifetime of care would total $100 million, but he's now a quadriplegic, so I can't say I blame him for suing for that much, regardless of being an employee or not.

Aside from lifetime care I'm thinking there's $ included for loss of income to support his family.