December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment: Difference between revisions
Daniel Case (talk | contribs) →Cause: rewrite this last graf; rm info not in source article and add some that is |
|||
| Line 66: | Line 66: | ||
{{cquote|There are two possible factors in a situation like this: One is a problem with the track, one is the speed of the train, which could be an operator error or it could be an equipment failure.}} |
{{cquote|There are two possible factors in a situation like this: One is a problem with the track, one is the speed of the train, which could be an operator error or it could be an equipment failure.}} |
||
Two days after the accident, union official Anthony Bottalico said that engineer William Rockefeller had "nodded" off before the accident. He likened it to [[Highway hypnosis|white-line fever]] experienced by truckers. Rockefeller had recently started working the early shift instead of in the afternoons; however on the day of the accident he had apparently gotten adequate sleep and arrived at work on time from his home in [[Germantown, New York|Germantown]] where he was seen to be alert and vivacious. Tests for alcohol in his system were negative and he had apparently not been using his cell phone at the time of the wreck.<ref name="Times Union story">{{cite news|last1=Fitzgerald|first1=Jim|last2=Peltz|first=Jennifer|title=Lawyer: NY engineer had 'daze' before train wreck|url=http://www.timesunion.com/news/crime/article/Union-official-says-train-engineer-nodded-5029689.php}newspaper=[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]]|date=December 4, 2013|accessdate=December 4, 2013}}</ref> |
|||
On December 3rd, 2013, the [[Albany]]-based ''Times Union'' and [[NBC Nightly News]] reported that a union official admitted that the engineer William Rockefeller had "nodded" off before the accident.<ref>[http://www.timesunion.com/news/crime/article/Union-official-says-train-engineer-nodded-5029689.php]</ref> The same news story said the train was equipped with a [[dead man's switch]] or pedal which should have caused the train to automatically decelerate. |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
Revision as of 06:58, 4 December 2013
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (December 2013) |
| Spuyten Duyvil derailment | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of the derailment | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Date | December 1, 2013 7:22 a.m. EST (12:22 UTC) |
| Location | Near Spuyten Duyvil station, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°52′47″N 73°55′22″W / 40.879597°N 73.922829°W |
| Country | United States |
| Line | Hudson Line |
| Operator | Metro-North Railroad |
| Incident type | Derailment |
| Cause | Under investigation |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Deaths | 4 |
| Injured | 63 |
On December 1, 2013, a Metro-North Railroad passenger train derailed near Spuyten Duyvil station in the New York City borough of the Bronx, killing 4 people and injuring 63 others. Early indications are that excessive speed was the immediate cause. It was the deadliest train accident within New York City in two decades.[1]
Accident
At 07:22. EST (12:22 UTC) on December 1, 2013, the 05:54 Poughkeepsie-to-Grand Central Terminal passenger train derailed 100 yards (91 m) north of Spuyten Duyvil station, below the Henry Hudson Bridge where the Harlem River Ship Canal flows into the Hudson River, just after it had passed the junction with the West Side Line's crossing over the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge. The train was not due to stop at Spuyten Duyvil. It had been due to arrive at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan at 07:43.[2][3][4][5] Photographs show all seven carriages and the locomotive were derailed on a curve just outside Spuyten Duyvil station. Four people were killed and 63 were injured.[2][3] The New York City Fire Department sent 125 firefighters to the scene to assist in the rescue operation. The Hudson Line was closed to rail traffic as a consequence of the accident.[6] The nearby West Side Line was reopened to Amtrak trains by 15:00.[7]
A freight train had derailed on the other side of the same station four months earlier.[8][9] The site was also where two trains collided on January 13, 1882, killing 10 to 12 people, including New York State Senator Webster Wagner.[10]
This is Metro-North's first accident involving passenger fatalities in its 30-year history, and its first accident involving any fatalities since a 1988 collision in Mount Vernon, New York, that killed one crew member.[11]
The four people killed were 35-year-old Kisook Ahn of Queens, 59-year-old James M. Ferrari of Montrose, 58-year-old James G. Lovell of Cold Spring, and 54-year-old Donna L. Smith of Newburgh; all were New York State residents at the time of their deaths. Ahn was the only one to be found inside the train after the derailment.[12]
Effect on service
For the day of the accident, Metro-North suspended all service on the Hudson Line south of Croton-Harmon. The next day, the first regular business day back from the Thanksgiving holiday, it restored limited service as far south as Yonkers, three stations north of where the derailment occurred, with shuttle buses providing service to the Van Cortlandt Park—242nd Street subway station, the northern terminus of the 1 train into Manhattan.[13] Shuttle bus service was initiated between the Tarrytown station on the Hudson Line and White Plains on the Harlem Line.[14]
Metro-North was not the only passenger railroad to experience service disruption. Amtrak, whose Empire Service trains follow the West Shore Line tracks from the accident site to Penn Station, suspended all service between New York City and Albany that day, stranding college students and others relying on the train to return to school after the holiday.[15] By the afternoon it had been restored, with delays due to reduced speeds and activity in the accident area.[16]
Investigation
A team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was dispatched to the scene of the accident to investigate.[3]
The NTSB is currently reporting that the train was traveling at 82 miles per hour (132 km/h); the speed limit for the section of track involved is 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).[17]
Cause
The cause of the accident was unknown as of December 3rd, although witnesses on the train stated that it was traveling "a lot faster than normal".[18] The train carried a train event recorder, which will be accessed to determine the train's speed when it derailed.[6]
New York governor Andrew Cuomo told journalists at a news conference held in the Bronx right after the derailment:
There are two possible factors in a situation like this: One is a problem with the track, one is the speed of the train, which could be an operator error or it could be an equipment failure.
Two days after the accident, union official Anthony Bottalico said that engineer William Rockefeller had "nodded" off before the accident. He likened it to white-line fever experienced by truckers. Rockefeller had recently started working the early shift instead of in the afternoons; however on the day of the accident he had apparently gotten adequate sleep and arrived at work on time from his home in Germantown where he was seen to be alert and vivacious. Tests for alcohol in his system were negative and he had apparently not been using his cell phone at the time of the wreck.[19]
References
- ^ Barron, James; Goodman, J. David (December 2, 2013). "Focus Turns to Investigation in Fatal Bronx Train Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
- ^ a b "New York train crash: Metro-North derailment in Bronx". BBC News Online. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ a b c "Governor: 4 dead, 63 hurt in NYC train derailment". The Boston Herald. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "At least 4 dead, more than 60 injured after NY commuter train derails in Bronx". NBC. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Saturday & Sunday November 30 & December 1 New York - Poughkeepsie" (PDF). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved Decenber 2, 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b "Four People Killed After Train Derails In New York". Sky News. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Amtrak Trains From NYC to Albany Back in Service". ABC News. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
- ^ "Four people reported dead after New York train derails". Telegraph Group. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Metro-North Line Is Tied Up After a Freight Train Derails". The New York Times. July 19, 2013.
- ^ "Scene Of Metro-North Derailment Was Also Site Of Tragic 1882 Wreck". CBS New York. December 1, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- ^ Feron, James (April 14, 1988). "Engineer Cited in Metro-North Crash". New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
- ^ "Metro-North victims: more than 60 injured, 4 killed | 7online.com". WABC. December 2, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- ^ "MTA Service Status". MTA. December 2, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- ^ "Amtrak Service Restored in New York Following Metro-North Derailment". Associated Press. December 1, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- ^ Cusma, Kathryn; Harshbarger, Rebecca; Li, David K. (December 1, 2013). "Metro-North derailment causes massive service disruption". New York Post. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- ^ "UPDATE". Twitter. December 1, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- ^ "NTSB: Train traveling 82 mph approaching curve". WABC. December 2, 2013.
- ^ "4 killed, 63 injured in major train derailment in the Bronx". Fox19. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Jennifer; Peltz (December 4, 2013). Union (Albany)|Times Union%5d%5d "Lawyer: NY engineer had 'daze' before train wreck". Retrieved December 4, 2013.
{{cite news}}: Check|url=value (help); More than one of|first1=and|first=specified (help)