Northeast Regional 188 - Accident In Philadelphia

[Gerry6309]

Shocking amount of damage and carnage. My thoughts are with the dead and injured and their families.

We should avoid trying to unravel this ourselves, and let the NTSB do their job. Rail travel should be safe, and hopefully, any lessons learned can be put to productive use.

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord...

[asull85]

I was just informed that the conductor is missing.

[gokeefe]

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord...

And let perpetual light shine upon them....

My thoughts are not only with the families of the victims but especially with the train crew, firefighters, police and EMS. Trauma is always hard to respond to, even when you've done it many times before.

[ekt8750]

From NJ.com a pretty extensive close up photo gallery of the wreck:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/0 ... lment.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

News choppers on the live feed just did a 360-degree pan around the Sprinter and shone a light on it. It looks, amazingly, relatively unscathed. Doesn't appear that it struck anything. But...wow...the ties nearby have been completely stripped of rail. Staggering amount of lateral displacement.

[rdgrailfan]

unfortunately, Press conference indicates 5 dead, 6 more in critical.
Police radio indicates all passengers are now removed from train and transported to
to either a school or area medical units.
Philadelphia Police did a great job transporting injured to area hospitals,scoop and swoop in police vans for walking wounded, fire ambulance for the worst off.
They are checking all rail cars, again, for possible missing persons.

[ajl1239]

Hearing expert on MSNBC now stating that this was not a speed issue -- train was going only 25/35 mph -- but was probably a side-swipe issue: a known problem with the Amfleet cars that would have contributed to that car we see that is totally twisted up.

[Matt Johnson]

Hearing expert on MSNBC now stating that this was not a speed issue -- train was going only 25/35 mph -- but was probably a side-swipe issue: a known problem with the Amfleet cars that would have contributed to that car we see that is totally twisted up.

I call BS on that...sure looks like a lot more energy than a ~30 mph wreck would produce.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Google Maps of the scene, so you can orient yourself via the position of the tanker cars: https://www.google.com/maps/place/North ... ad!6m1!1e1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ekt8750]

I was gonna say the same thing. 30MPH wouldn't send the locomotive and 6 cars 100s of feet off the track.

[ajl1239]

Right, the MSNBC reporter was also calling BS, but the expert insisted that a study done in the desert on Amfleet cars pointed out that exactly this result could happen to the Amfleet cars. I'm not necessarily agreeing with him, but just stating what I'm hearing.

[justalurker66]

We will see what the NTSB has to say about that ... three hours after the incident and the pundits and Internet have it all solved.

[l008com]

Also, if it were a sideswipe, where's the other train?

[Noel Weaver]

PLEASE ALL Lets not jump to conclusions on this very horrible event. Let Schumer shoot off his yap before his brain (if he has one) has been engaged. We need to PRAY for all involved from crew to passengers to the great rescue folks in and around Philadelphia.
I got a telephone call around 10:50 PM regarding this one, I did not have my TV on at the time and was getting ready to take my nightly pills and shut down for the night. I have a best friend riding north from Florida as I type this on train 98. It is running late at present but his trip will get much worse in the morning. I suspect 98 will not go north of Washington and he will take a corridor train if they are running as far as Philadelphia where he will have two choices as I see it. With the location being in the area of Frankford Junction I think the railroad should be OK to 30th Street Station where he might have two choices:
1. The Market - Frankford Subway to a point where he can transfer to the PATCO Line for Camden then light rail it to Trenton where NJT should be running more or less normal service to New York.
2. Go to the upper level (SEPTA) at 30th Street and take a local to West Trenton where he can probably get to the Penn Station at Amtrak by taxicab.
Of the two alternatives I would probably use no. 1 because I don't like taxis no how. In any event he will have a long ride back to Connecticut and I can't reach his cell phone to appraise him of the situation ahead.
So far I salute all previous entries on here for not commenting on the possible cause, we simply don't know as yet but in any event it is not going to be good.
Please continue to pray for all involved and thank god that it wasn't worse, it could have been.
Noel Weaver

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Pics of 601:

Note the separation between the loco in front of the pipeline bridge and the first tipped-over car behind the pipeline bridge. See the stripped rail in front of the loco and empty ties, and how close it came to the tanker cars that aren't even close to the track the train was on.





Nasty shiner and I'm sure the underside got messed up pretty good, but she'll run again. No pics of what loco was riding the other end of the train.