Metro-North officials probing Greenwich derailment

[mark1447]

Rail officials are trying to find out what caused an express train out of Grand Central Station to derail Tuesday night in Greenwich.

 

"It is under investigation. It is very unusual and we probably won't know for a couple of days," said Metro-North Railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders, adding that officials are downloading information from the train's black box, a device that records information about trains' operations.

 

Two front wheels of the lead car came off the track, causing the first car to derail, Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan said Wednesday.

 

A 50-year-old man complained of back pains following the derailment, which occurred at a switch between the Greenwich and Cos Cob stations, and was taken to Stamford Hospital.

 

"Initially we had no reports of any injuries," Anders said.

 

The eight-car train, the second post-rush hour one to leave New York at 8:07 p.m. with an estimated 500-600 passengers, came off the tracks at 8:55 p.m., 10 minutes after its scheduled arrival at the Greenwich train station, Donovan said Tuesday night.

 

By 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, all passengers had been transferred to an empty, non-commuter train that was to take them to their destinations.

 

The derailment put all four tracks out of service Tuesday night, delaying five or six other trains and causing scattered delays up and down the New Haven line.

 

One track was re-opened around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, and all tracks were back in service by 8:47 a.m. Wednesday, Donovan said. The derailment and the icy weather delayed Metro-North's service between 10 to 20 minutes Wednesday from 6:45 to 7:15 a.m., he said.

 

The eight cars were inspected at the scene. The back six were towed to the Stamford yard around 2 a.m., while the front two, including the one that went off the track, were inspected and then towed from the scene at 4:30 a.m.

 

"They were rerailed and taken to the yard for repair," Anders said.

 

Those two trains remain in the Stamford yard for a further inspection, Anders said.

 

The maximum speed in the area where the train was switching tracks is 45 mph, Anders said.

 

Donovan said officials won't know what speed the train was traveling until the black box is examined.

 

The incident comes as Metro-North is under increasing pressure to repair the New Haven Line's fleet of aging railcars, which have exposed electrical components that are particularly sensitive to drifting snow.

 

"Every time a car dies it puts pressure on the railroad because we are already short cars and now we're down two more," Anders said.

 

Earlier Tuesday, Metro-North President Howard Permut said that, across the board, the New Haven line's fleet of 320 M-2, M-4, and M-6 cars are all in "terrible shape," and he anticipated the railroad only being able to keep between 50 and 60 percent of the cars reliably during the continuing harsh weather.

 

Fewer trains in service has led to overcrowding up and down the New Haven line.

 

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Metro-North-officials-probing-Greenwich-derailment-990932.php

[St Louis Car 09]

I blame Ice and the cascading failure of the M2 cars.

[BZGuy]

I blame Ice and the cascading failure of the M2 cars.

 

But I put a bigger share of the blame on ConnDOT. The M2s could have been replaced years ago if the state didn't try to be so cheap.

[KeystoneRegional]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[HomeBall]

I blame Ice and the cascading failure of the M2 cars.

 

Problem was found, but I don't think MNR has released this info publicly yet. So as not to release privileged info all I'll say is that something like this happened within the last two years elsewhere on MNR because of the same reason.

[Amtrak7]

Problem was found, but I don't think MNR has released this info publicly yet. So as not to release privileged info all I'll say is that something like this happened within the last two years elsewhere on MNR because of the same reason.

 

Within the last 2 years??? I don't remember any HUGE incidents on MNR in 2009...

[Rutgers Tube]

Within the last 2 years??? I don't remember any HUGE incidents on MNR in 2009...

 

This really isn't that all that notable of an incident. No one was seriously injured or killed and because of the time of the occurrence, service wasn't severely crippled. It only seems like a huge problem because it's just one more New Haven Line EMU set that has been laid up in the shop. For the record, Metro-North most certainly did have a few incidents in 2009, though not all of them were derailments, and 2009 may or may not have even been the year of this similar issue. After speaking with a few friends at the railroad, I have a pretty good idea what happened, and if what I heard is true, Homeball is correct: there was a similar incident somewhere on Metro-North property within the past two years or so. However, I'll leave it up to someone else to post the FINAL and OFFICIAL information, which will come straight from the mouth of Metro-North horse soon enough.