Non-revenue derailment w/o Jamaica March 2013

This just in...

LIRR customers are advised to allow extra travel time Tuesday morning and check traffic reports as the LIRR expects that there will be cancellations.
A non-passenger train derailed west of Jamaica Station. There were no injuries to the crew and LIRR personnel are working through the night to clear up the derailed cars and repair track damage, but this is expected to impact morning rush hour service. Check the MTA/LIRR web site at www.mta.info in the morning for delays, cancellations or diversions. We apologize for the inconvenience.

With weather conditions potentially increasing ridership tomorrow this does not look pretty.

Karma doing its job

Gotta love how the press reports it as a 'freight train', then posts photos of, you know, the derailed lirr cars (which doesn't look like a very serious derailment)
http://gothamist.com/2013/03/19/photos_ ... _derai.php

Well derailing on one of the straightest, heavily used-highest speed corridors on Long Island is an eye opener..

How does a train derail on the straightest section of track in the system? When I heard west of Jamaica, I was sure it was at some switch, but this happened near Forest Hills, nothing but straight track is there.

Ice, snow? Wasn't exactly a nice evening out there. I'd imagine the FRA will look into it.

DogBert wrote:Gotta love how the press reports it as a 'freight train', then posts photos of, you know, the derailed lirr cars (which doesn't look like a very serious derailment)
http://gothamist.com/2013/03/19/photos_ ... _derai.php

I'd imagine that's just an uneducated journalist misconstruing what the MTA press release stated. They assumed "non-passenger" meant freight.

To make things worse 2739 fatally struck a person in Mineola this morning...

PM rush has 7 cancellations and 1 train originating at Jamaica.

I went to see the derailment and I saw that the car pointed westbound (one of the two cars that I presume are the cars that derailed) was 7207, an M7, though I'm not sure about the other car. Some 4-6 other cars were hauled off westbound by 164 and 161.

I have some pictures of the scene, so I might put it up.

How do they go about "re-railing" the train? Do they use air bags to lift it or a crane? Very curious. I'm not far from where this happened and went to check it out. Seems like they will be removing and replacing a large portion of the track.

Put the pictures up if possible. A picture is worth 1000 words..

The MTA released some photos and a video of the derailed train. You can see the photos in the above linked article or in this post on my site.

I like the blue light on the buffer plate in the photos. Just in case someone tried to move to the train.

Read your blue light rules, it does not only prevent movement, it prevents anyone from coupling to equipment, when people are on or under protected equipment.
and is a federal requirement, before anyone goes under or fouls such equipment.

Is the cause of the derailment known yet?

Also: re: this morning's Mineola incident, I was listening to all the agencies involved. The Nassau County Police advised their units that a person jumped in front of the train. Anyone know if that's true, or some other circumstances? I also heard the engineer of 2739 talking to 204. He sounded remarkably calm, considering the situation. Hope he and the other crew members are okay. This being a diesel train was it the cab-car or a loco on the west end?