Spuyten Duyvil Derailment: Five Years Later - New Details Emerge

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Spuyten Duyvil: New details emerge from pre-trial statements of Metro-North higher-ups

Thomas C. Zambito, tzambito@lohud.comPublished 6:00 a.m. ET June 6, 2018 | Updated 11:14 a.m. ET June 6, 2018

https://www.lohud.com/videos/news/transit/2017/09/18/video-ex-official-lohud-metro-north-warned-before-derailment/105764208/

 

Richard French speaks with lohud.com reporter Tom Zambito about the news that a former Metro-North official had warned the agency about train danger before the deadly derailment in 2013 in Spuyten Duyvil.

That’s how much time would have been added to a trip from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Terminal if Metro-North Railroad had followed the advice of its top engineer and installed a backup system along a curve in the Bronx where four died and dozens were injured in 2013, according to a letter filed in a lawsuit against the commuter rail.

Joseph Riley, Metro-North’s general road foreman, says he suggested the fix to his boss, then vice president of operations George Walker, in 2005 when an engineer was flagged for speeding through the same curve.

“Riley said the recommended signal change would have prevented the Dec. 1, 2013 derailment,” attorney Ira Maurer writes. “Riley testified that Walker said no to the recommendation and said he didn’t want to slow the trains.”

Maurer represents William Rockefeller, the engineer who fell asleep at the controls of Hudson Line Train 8808 on Dec. 1, 2013 while going 82 mph along a Spuyten Duvyil curve marked for 30 mph.

The new details emerge from the latest filing in Rockefeller’s $10 million federal lawsuit against Metro-North, the nation's second busiest commuter rail.

Rockefeller, who retired from the railroad with a disability pension, surprised many inside the railroad by trying to shift blame for the derailment onto his former employer by filing the lawsuit in 2016.

Rockefeller said responsibility for the accident rests solely with Metro-North for failing to install a backup safety system because it was too concerned with making sure trains got into stations on time.

A rail crew works at the scene of the fatal Metro-North train derailment on Dec. 2., 2013, in the Bronx near the Spuyten Duyvil station. The Bronx County District Attorney’s office said that the engineer, William Rockefeller, will not face charges in relation to the accident. (Photo: Ricky Flores/The Journal News File Photo)

Time versus safety

Maurer’s letter credits the 50-second estimate to the pre-trial deposition of Fernando Gimenez, the railroad’s deputy director of Signal Design.

“The new fail safe signal circuit at Spuyten Duyvil only added about 50 seconds to a train run from Poughkeepsie to GCT (such as train 8808) that takes about 1 hour, 45 minutes, beginning to end,” Maurer writes.

Such a small addition of time could undermine a decision to reject a braking system based on concerns for the railroad’s on-time record.

The letter adds that Gimenez said such a system would have taken five engineers four days to design and another two days for workers to implement the change. It took engineers about that much time to install the system on the Spuyten Duyvil curve after the derailment, in the midst of a safety probe led by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Maurer’s letter also offers new details of Riley’s efforts to enlist support for a backup safety system within the ranks of the commuter rail.

In the days after the 2005 speeding incident, the letter says, Riley and David Schanoes, the railroad’s then-deputy chief of operations, discussed what they should do to “correct the problem at Spuyten Duyvil.”

“Schanoes and Riley took out the track charts that show the track geometry, looked at the signal diagrams and then both concluded that it would be prudent for Metro-North to install a signal circuit that would brake a speeding southbound train and reduce its speed to 30 mph before the train entered the Spuyten Duyvil curve,” the letter states.

Days later, Riley told Schanoes he made the recommendation to Walker but Walker rejected it, the letter adds.

Walker, in his deposition, said he did not recall Riley making such a recommendation, Maurer's letter adds.

“Walker did not recall Riley making his recommendation in 2005, that Metro-North install a signal code change point to prevent a train from speeding at the Spuyten Duyvil curve, but said he was not denying that the recommendation was made,” the letter adds.

A southbound Metro-North train arrives at the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North station in the Bronx Nov. 25, 2017. Four years ago, a southbound train derailed coming around the same bend just before the station, killing four passengers. The train that derailed was traveling at over 80 mph when it left the tracks, far faster than it should have been travelling.  (Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)

Alerter system claim

The letter also addresses a key piece of Rockefeller’s claims against the railroad, that his cab was not equipped with an alerter system that sends audible and visual signals to an engineer when a train is speeding.

Such a system existed in the rear of the train on southbound runs into Manhattan but was not installed in the front passenger car where Rockefeller was stationed.

Walker testified that he was unaware that the cab in which Rockefeller was operating the train didn’t have an alerter.

“Walker would have made sure that the passenger car, from where the plaintiff was operating train #8808 from on Dec. 1, 2013 was equipped with an alerter system if he knew it was not so outfitted,” the letter states.

Rockefeller’s cab did, however, have a so-called dead man’s pedal, which is used to slow the train when an engineer’s foot comes off the pedal.

Train 8808 left Poughkeepsie for Grand Central at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

The Journal News/lohud reported last year that Bronx prosecutors investigated a claim that before boarding the train Rockefeller told an assistant conductor to check on him during the ride because he’d been up late the night before.

“It’s your job to keep me awake,” Rockefeller was alleged to have told assistant conductor Maria Herbert. Herbert later denied Rockefeller made the statement. And Rockefeller was cleared of criminal charges in 2015.

Metro-North is expected to ask U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Briccetti to dismiss Rockefeller’s case before it goes to trial.

Metro-North’s attorney, Andrew Keaveney, says Rockefeller is solely responsible for the crash. “The one and only cause for the accident is plaintiff’s failure to perform his job of controlling the speed of the train,” Keaveney wrote in court papers filed last month.

The railroad is counter-suing Rockefeller for the cost of replacing the train destroyed in the accident, about $10 million.

Source: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/transit/2018/06/06/bronx-derailment-2013-new-details/673518002/

[Deucey]

On 7/26/2018 at 6:54 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The letter also addresses a key piece of Rockefeller’s claims against the railroad, that his cab was not equipped with an alerter system that sends audible and visual signals to an engineer when a train is speeding.

 Such a system existed in the rear of the train on southbound runs into Manhattan but was not installed in the front passenger car where Rockefeller was stationed.

How does that work if the train isn't a diesel?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

2 minutes ago, Deucey said:

How does that work if the train isn't a diesel?

It may be in the video that's part of this article. Can't recall for sure but I believe they touched on this topic.

[Truckie]

Diesel or not is irrelevant, it's just a matter of the electronics.