Metro-North Thanksgiving Weekend Wreck Kills Four, Injures 63
EXCESSIVE SPEED was a factor in the December 1, 2013, wreck of Metro-North train 8808 on the Hudson Line in the Bronx, N.Y., while en route from Pough- keepsie to Grand Central Terminal. The seven-car push-pull consist was operating in push mode when it careened off the track on a 30-m.p.h. curve as it ap- proached the Spuyten Duyvil station at around 7:20 a.m. Four of the train’s 120 passengers were killed and 63 were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board said the train was running at 82 m.p.h. when it jumped the track and that brake pipe pressure dropped to zero just six seconds before the train stopped and the locomotive went to idle five seconds before. The engi- neer has been quoted as saying he was “in a daze” at the time of the derailment. Three of the deceased were ejected from the train as it derailed and the windows broke out as the cars rolled onto their sides. The engineer is a 15-year MNR veteran with 11 years
as an engineer. He had switched from working nights to a regular day- time schedule just two weeks before, so it’s possible that his circadian rhythm may have been affected by the change. On the day of the acci- dent he had reported for work at 5:00 a.m. after reportedly sleeping from 8:30 the previous evening to 4:30 the morning. The wreck occurred just east of CP 12, where Amtrak’s West Side connector to Penn Station joins the Hudson line, and Amtrak’s Empire Service was briefly suspended between New York and Albany as res- cue operations were under way. CSX freight service to and from Selkirk Yard near Albany was suspended until the tracks were re- stored on December 4.
22 JANUARY 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM
On December 6 the Federal Railroad Administration issued an Emergency Order which directed MNR to identify locations where speed limits drop by 20 m.p.h. or more and to modify its existing auto- matic train control system or signal systems to enable adequate ad- vance warning of and adherence to such speed restrictions. Until the signal system is modified, FRA directed MN to have two qualified em- ployees in the operating cab where such speed restrictions exist. By December 9, Metro-North had modified the signals at CP12 to
allow a maximum speed of 30 m.p.h. and signal engineers were working on similar modifications at four curves and five moveable bridges on the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. — WALT LANKENAU
TWO PHOTOS: MARC GLUCKSMAN
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