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July 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment

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Spuyten Duyvil derailment
(July 2013)
A large green metallic container lying on its side across some railroad tracks, one corner resting on a concrete structure on the left, seen at night.
A waste container spilled on the tracks
shortly after the accident
Details
DateJuly 18, 2013
8:29 p.m. EDT (12:19 UTC)
LocationBetween Spuyten Duyvil and Marble Hill stations, Bronx, NY
Coordinates40°52′33″N 73°55′01″W / 40.87590°N 73.91681°W / 40.87590; -73.91681Coordinates: 40°52′33″N 73°55′01″W / 40.87590°N 73.91681°W / 40.87590; -73.91681
CountryUnited States
LineHudson Line
OperatorCSX
Incident typeDerailment
CauseExcessive track gauge[1]
Statistics
Trains1
Crew4
Deaths0
Injured0
DamageUS$827,000[1]

On the evening of July 18, 2013, a CSX freight train carrying municipal solid waste on tracks of the Hudson Line along the Harlem River Ship Canal in the New York City borough of The Bronx partially derailed between the Marble Hill and Spuyten Duyvil stations. While no one was injured, the derailment caused over US$800,000 in damage and took several days to clean up. Commuter rail service by Metro-North Railroad, which owns the line, was suspended for two weekends in order to fully restore normal operations.

After investigating the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found it had been caused by the track stretching to an excessive gauge at the point of derailment. It did not fault the crew, instead criticizing Metro-North for failing to maintain the track and surrounding ballast to the point that the track went out of gauge. Later in the year, in a comprehensive safety review after another derailment of a passenger train nearby resulted in the first passenger fatalities in Metro-North's history, the NTSB cited the maintenance shortfall as part of an inadequate "safety culture" at the railroad.[2]

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CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation, known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates on approximately 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track. The company operates as the leading subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Hudson Line (Metro-North)

Hudson Line (Metro-North)

The Hudson Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City along the east shore of the Hudson River, terminating at Poughkeepsie. The line was originally the Hudson River Railroad, and eventually became the Hudson Division of the New York Central Railroad. It runs along what was the far southern leg of the Central's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago.

New York City

New York City

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is the most densely populated major city in the United States and more than twice as populous as Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest city. New York City is located at the southern tip of New York State. It constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world.

The Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York City borough of Queens, across the East River. The Bronx has a land area of 42 square miles (109 km2) and a population of 1,472,654 in the 2020 census. If each borough were ranked as a city, the Bronx would rank as the ninth-most-populous in the U.S. Of the five boroughs, it has the fourth-largest area, fourth-highest population, and third-highest population density. It is the only borough of New York City not primarily on an island. With a population that is 54.8% Hispanic as of 2020, it is the only majority-Hispanic county in the Northeastern United States and the fourth-most-populous nationwide.

Derailment

Derailment

In rail transport, a derailment occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially serious hazard.

Commuter rail

Commuter rail

Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems are considered heavy rail, using electrified or diesel trains. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used.

Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North Railroad, trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Metro-North runs service between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, including Port Jervis, Spring Valley, Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Southeast and Wassaic in New York and Stamford, New Canaan, Danbury, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and New Haven in Connecticut. Metro-North also provides local rail service within the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 34,515,800, or about 191,200 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2022.

National Transportation Safety Board

National Transportation Safety Board

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents, bridge failures, and railroad accidents. The NTSB is also in charge of investigating cases of hazardous materials releases that occur during transportation. The agency is based in Washington, D.C. It has four regional offices, located in Anchorage, Alaska; Denver, Colorado; Ashburn, Virginia; and Seattle, Washington. The agency also operates a national training center at its Ashburn facility.

Track ballast

Track ballast

Track ballast is the material which forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to bear the compression load of the railroad ties, rails, and rolling stock; to facilitate drainage; and keep down vegetation that can compromise the integrity of the combined track structure. Ballast also physically holds the track in place as the trains roll over it.

December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment

December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment

On the morning of December 1, 2013, a Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line passenger train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the New York City borough of the Bronx. Four of the 115 passengers were killed and another 61 injured; the accident caused $9 million worth of damage. It was the deadliest train accident within New York City since a 1991 subway derailment in Manhattan, and the first accident in Metro-North's history to result in passenger fatalities. The additional $60 million in legal claims paid out as of 2020 have also made it the costliest accident in Metro-North's history.

Background

A different CSX freight using the bypass track at the Marble Hill station, shown in October 2014
A different CSX freight using the bypass track at the Marble Hill station, shown in October 2014

The CSX train left Oak Point Yard near Hunts Point in the South Bronx at 6:30 p.m. that evening. The weather was clear and hot—temperatures were above 90 °F (32 °C), as they had been for the previous three days, enough for the National Weather Service to have issued a heat advisory for the city. A crew of four, an engineer and conductor plus a trainee for those positions, led a consist of two SD40-2 locomotives and 24 flatcars specially modified to carry four large containers of solid waste collected by New York's sanitation department to a landfill in Virginia.[1]

From Oak Point the train went first south along the Northeast Corridor line also used by Amtrak, until it left to follow a spur west along the north side of the Bronx Kill and, after that, the Harlem River, where the track turned northwest to follow the river. At Highbridge Yard, the train followed the track as it merged onto those used by Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line commuter rail service from Grand Central Station to points along the east bank of the Hudson River as far north as Poughkeepsie. It was one of four such waste trains that regularly use the Hudson Line's tracks each night; two northbound[Note 1] with full containers and two southbound[Note 2] returning the emptied ones.[3]

There are generally two tracks along this stretch, both electrified with third rails for Metro-North's electric multiple unit trains serving the stations along the Hudson Line south of Croton-Harmon in Westchester County.[Note 3] With a few exceptions, they are immediately adjacent to the river and almost completely level. They consist of ribbon rail laid in standard gauge on prestressed concrete ties supported by a bed of crushed trap rock ballast.[1]

In Metro-North territory, the train passed the Morris Heights and University Heights stations, serving those areas of the Bronx. Just north of the latter, a third track diverged to allow trains to bypass the Marble Hill station, in a mainland section of Manhattan, where passenger trains stop more frequently, allowing a transfer to the nearby subway station. Metro-North rates the tracks in this area as Class 2 under Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) guidelines, allowing a passenger speed limit of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and a freight speed limit of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) 10 mph below that allowed by the FRA.[1]

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CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation, known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates on approximately 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track. The company operates as the leading subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Hunts Point, Bronx

Hunts Point, Bronx

Hunts Point is a neighborhood located on a peninsula in the South Bronx of New York City. It is the location of one of the largest food distribution facilities in the world, the Hunts Point Cooperative Market. Its boundaries are the Bruckner Expressway to the west and north, the Bronx River to the east, and the East River to the south. Hunts Point Avenue is the primary street through Hunts Point.

National Weather Service

National Weather Service

The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the purposes of protection, safety, and general information. It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, within the Washington metropolitan area. The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1890 until it adopted its current name in 1970.

Heat advisory

Heat advisory

A heat advisory is a notice issued by the National Weather Service of the United States. Local offices often have their own criteria. High values of the heat index are caused by temperatures being significantly above normal and high humidities, and such high levels can pose a threat to human life through conditions such as heat stroke.

Freight conductor

Freight conductor

A freight conductor is a person who is employed by a railroad. The freight conductor is the lead employee assigned to a freight train, and is responsible for the smooth operation of the assignment, which includes reviewing schedules and maintaining communication with the train's crew members.

Flatcar

Flatcar

A flatcar (US) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry extra heavy or extra large loads are mounted on a pair of bogies under each end. The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads. Flatcars designed for carrying machinery have sliding chain assemblies recessed in the deck.

Landfill

Landfill

A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, refuse was simply left in piles or thrown into pits; in archeology this is known as a midden.

Amtrak

Amtrak

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track.

Bronx Kill

Bronx Kill

The Bronx Kill is a narrow strait in New York City delineating the southernmost extent of the Bronx. It separates the Bronx from Randalls Island. It connects the Harlem River to the East River.

Harlem River

Harlem River

The Harlem River is an 8-mile (13 km) tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland.

Highbridge Facility

Highbridge Facility

The Highbridge Facility, also simply known as Highbridge or High Bridge, is a maintenance facility for the Metro-North Railroad in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, New York City, United States. It is the third stop along the Hudson Line north of Grand Central Terminal, and is for Metro-North employees only, though this stop also formerly served commuter rail passengers and was called High Bridge station. The station is located south of the High Bridge off Depot Place and Exterior Drive, and is accessible from Sedgwick Avenue by way of a viaduct that carries Depot Place over the Major Deegan Expressway, the Hudson Line, and Exterior Drive.

Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North Railroad, trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Metro-North runs service between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, including Port Jervis, Spring Valley, Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Southeast and Wassaic in New York and Stamford, New Canaan, Danbury, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and New Haven in Connecticut. Metro-North also provides local rail service within the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 34,515,800, or about 191,200 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2022.

Accident

Almost two hours after leaving Oak Point, the CSX train reached the Marble Hill station, where the train was on the outside track closest to the river and away from the elevated platform. Metro-North train #781, an EMU consist making all local stops up to Croton-Harmon,[4] was stopped at the station while the freight had priority. Ahead, at the control point marking exactly 10 miles (16 km) from Grand Central, was a red signal. The engineer later told NTSB investigators he used the dynamic brakes to slow the train down. It was almost stopped when it changed back to green, allowing the train to proceed.[1]

The CSX engineer began accelerating his train again, preparing to merge on to one of the two main tracks. He was mindful also of a slight curve into a rock cut just past the control point. He followed his usual practice of taking the curve by notching the throttle up until the train had reached Metro-North's 15 mph speed limit, then taking it back down to idle so as to drift through the curve, then notching it up again slowly as it lost speed in the curve.[1][Note 4]

As the CSX train rounded the curve, the engineer of the Metro-North train saw sparks and dust. He realized that some of the freight's cars had derailed, and immediately notified that train's engineer by radio. The CSX engineer applied the air brakes at full pressure, and soon the train's own emergency brakes took over. When the train came to a stop, the conductor departed the cab and made a visual inspection. Nine cars in the middle of the train had indeed derailed, some of them blocking the other track, along with containers that had fallen off their cars and spilled.[1]

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Throttle

Throttle

A throttle is the mechanism by which fluid flow is managed by constriction or obstruction.

Idle (engine)

Idle (engine)

Idling refers to running a vehicle's engine when the vehicle is not in motion. This commonly occurs when drivers are stopped at a red light, waiting while parked outside a business or residence, or otherwise stationary with the engine running. When idling, the engine runs without any loads except the engine accessories.

Railway air brake

Railway air brake

A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13, 1869. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. In various forms, it has been nearly universally adopted.

Emergency brake (train)

Emergency brake (train)

On trains, the expression emergency brake has several meanings:The maximum brake force available to the engine driver from the conventional braking system, usually operated by taking the brake handle to its furthest position, through a gate mechanism, or by pushing a separate plunger in the cab. A completely separate mechanism from the conventional braking system, designed to stop the train as quickly as possible. A handle or plunger which may be applied by a passenger in an emergency situation, either stopping the train directly or sending an alarm to the driver so that they can stop the train.

Aftermath

Workers inspecting the accident site shortly afterwards
Workers inspecting the accident site shortly afterwards

As soon as the accident was reported to it, Metro-North suspended service in the affected area between Marble Hill and Spuyten Duyvil. Passengers on the #781 train, or already waiting at Marble Hill, were taken back to the Yankee Stadium station south of Highbridge Yard and discharged. Some complained they were offered neither an explanation or alternatives, although Metro-North began offering shuttle bus service between Marble Hill and Riverdale, the next station north of Spuyten Duyvil, by midnight. It also announced that Hudson Line tickets would be cross-honored on the Harlem Line, which parallels the New York–Connecticut state line through the same three counties.[5]

Metro-North crews began working within hours to assess the damage. By morning rush hour, the railroad had suspended all service on the Hudson Line south of Yonkers, three stations north of the accident site, until cleanup and repairs could be completed. In the meantime, it arranged bus service from Yonkers to the Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street station, the northern terminus of the New York City Subway's 1 train, which many Hudson Line passengers disembark to at the Marble Hill station to reach jobs on the West Side of Manhattan. Howard Permut, president of Metro-North, promised riders that normal service would resume by July 22, the next Monday, four days after the accident.[3]

The narrow rock cut where the derailment occurred complicated cleanup efforts
The narrow rock cut where the derailment occurred complicated cleanup efforts

The next morning, a Friday, posed a challenge for regular Hudson Line commuters. Some riders, particularly those who normally took trains to Grand Central, more convenient to the East Side and Brooklyn, chose to drive in instead or take the day off, giving themselves an unanticipated three-day weekend. Those that took the train anyway were mostly late for work, since the detours added as much as an hour and a half to their commutes. A Poughkeepsie woman interning on Wall Street told The New York Times she did not bother calling her superiors to explain why she was late, since "[t]hey take the train too." Metro-North estimated that Hudson Line ridership was half of what it otherwise might have been that day.[3]

Throughout the day and following weekend cleanup continued. That task was complicated by the location of most of the derailed cars in a short, narrow rock cut. Cranes and other heavy equipment used to lift cars back onto the tracks, and the spilled containers back on them, had to be laboriously repositioned after each use due to the limited space available, adding hours to the job. Some of the flatcar trucks were badly damaged in the accident and had to be repaired in situ to make them usable again. Workers also had to contend with the continued hot and humid weather.[6] Some containers had also opened in the accident, spilling their contents, which had to be repacked. "It's not like pickup sticks", explained a Metro-North spokeswoman.[3]

Crews from Metro-North, assisted by subway workers, worked around the clock through the weekend. After clearing the wrecked flatcars and reloading the containers, they had to repair a 1,500-foot (460 m) stretch of track. By Monday morning Metro-North was able to keep Permut's promise and reopen one of the two main tracks affected. It was able to handle 40 inbound and 12 outbound trains, mostly during the morning and evening rush hours.[7]

Work continued throughout the week on the other track. It was necessary to suspend service again over the next weekend, starting on Saturday morning to avoid disrupting service for fans headed to a New York Yankees home baseball game on the night of July 26, a Friday.[8] By the evening of Monday, July 29, the tracks had been completely cleared and fully repaired. Service on both tracks was restored to normal.[6]

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Shuttle bus

Shuttle bus

A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travelling to and from a specific destination in a more organized manner. Shuttle buses can be used on several occasions, such as transporting university students or used as a method to transport people from airports to hotels.

Harlem Line

Harlem Line

The Harlem Line is an 82-mile (132 km) commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower 53 miles (85 km) from Grand Central Terminal to Southeast, in Putnam County, is electrified with a third rail and has at least two tracks. The section north of Southeast is a non-electrified single-track line served by diesel locomotives. The diesel trains usually run as a shuttle on the northern end of the line, except for rush-hour express trains in the peak direction and one train in each direction on weekends.

Rush hour

Rush hour

A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: once in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening, the times during which the most people commute. The term is often used for a period of peak congestion that may last for more than one hour.

New York City Subway

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the most-used, and the one with the most stations, with 472 stations in operation.

1 (New York City Subway service)

1 (New York City Subway service)

The 1 Broadway–Seventh Avenue Local is a rapid transit service in the A Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored red, since it uses the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line for its entire route.

Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. Located near the southern tip of New York State, Manhattan is based in the Eastern Time Zone and constitutes both the geographical and demographic center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. Over 58 million people live within 250 miles of Manhattan, which serves as New York City’s economic and administrative center, cultural identifier, and the city’s historical birthplace. Residents of the outer boroughs of New York City often refer to Manhattan as "the city". Manhattan has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world, and hosts the United Nations headquarters. Manhattan also serves as the headquarters of the global art market, with numerous art galleries and auction houses collectively hosting half of the world’s art auctions.

East Side (Manhattan)

East Side (Manhattan)

East Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan which abuts the East River and faces Brooklyn and Queens. Fifth Avenue, Central Park from 59th to 110th Streets, and Broadway below 8th Street separate it from the West Side.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behind New York County (Manhattan). Brooklyn is also New York City's most populous borough, with 2,736,074 residents in 2020.

The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times, also referred to as the Gray Lady, is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2022 to comprise 740,000 paid print subscribers, and 8.6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as The Daily. Founded in 1851, it is published by The New York Times Company. The Times has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print, it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the United States. The newspaper is headquartered at The New York Times Building in Times Square, Manhattan.

Heavy equipment

Heavy equipment

Heavy equipment or heavy machinery or Earthmover refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. Heavy equipment usually comprises five equipment systems: the implement, traction, structure, power train, and control/information.

Bogie

Bogie

A bogie is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached or be quickly detachable ; it may contain a suspension within it, or be solid and in turn be suspended ; it may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung, or held in place by other means.

In situ

In situ

In situ is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in many different contexts. For example, in fields such as physics, geology, chemistry, or biology, in situ may describe the way a measurement is taken, that is, in the same place the phenomenon is occurring without isolating it from other systems or altering the original conditions of the test. The opposite of in situ is ex situ.

Investigation

The Metro-North workers were joined at the site by investigators from the NTSB, there to determine the cause of the accident. They retrieved electronic devices like the cab video cameras and event data recorder. After examining the damaged infrastructure closely, they took samples back to Highbridge for testing. Later they interviewed the crew of the CSX train, the Metro-North engineer who had witnessed the derailment and notified the CSX crew, and Metro-North employees responsible for maintenance of way.[1]

They found a wheel flange mark on the inside of the western rail at a point almost 73 feet (22 m) north of the control point where the CSX train had slowed almost to a stop when it saw the red. This they identified as the point of derailment (POD). They noticed immediately that the insulators on the Pandrol clips holding the rails to the concrete ties had slipped out of place slightly, with a noticeable gap between them and the rails in some areas. At the POD the rail was bowed slightly outward, resulting in a 516-inch (7.9 mm) variance from gauge.[1]

Rail damage in an area where soil infiltration was evident
Rail damage in an area where soil infiltration was evident

At and near the POD the ballast and track were notably paler. This was because they were covered with dust, indicating that soil infiltration had occurred. The pale dust was not the soil itself, but residue from the tie ends, which had suffered serious abrasion. Wheel flange grooves were also evident in some of the ties taken back to Highbridge, suggesting the track had been bending outward under load due to decreased structural support from the fouled ballast. This evidence was noted in 2010 satellite photos of the area on Google Earth and more recent photos taken by Metro-North itself.[1]

After making these measurements, they compared them with data from recent FRA and Metro-North track inspections. In early June, the agency had gone through the area with its track geometry car. At the POD it had recorded a 2-inch (51 mm) dip in the same track, consistent with motion noted on the cab video cameras in both CSX locomotives, and recorded the gauge as 0.06 inches (1.5 mm) over the regulatory standard of 57+34 inches (1,470 mm) for Class 2 track. Both values were within tolerance.[1]

Metro-North laying new ballast after the accident
Metro-North laying new ballast after the accident

The day before the accident, Metro-North had conducted a visual inspection of the track in the area on foot. The railroad's inspectors noted no reportable defects at or near the POD. However, within a mile (1.6 km) to the north of the accident, there were others, including broken ties and poorly drained areas.[1]

Upon review of Metro-North's maintenance records, the investigators learned that the track and concrete ties had been installed in 2000. The railroad's plans indicated that the track was to be resurfaced (i.e., the ballast replaced) every three years, and the ties and rails replaced every seven. However, since a 2004 resurfacing, neither action had been taken. Metro-North's chief engineer admitted the railroad was behind. He could not explain why, but he said Metro-North was "working towards getting back into phase."[1]

More recently, the NTSB noted, following a derailment of a passenger train in Connecticut two months earlier, which had also resulted from a defective and inadequately maintained rail, the railroad had hired Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), to evaluate its track maintenance program. Among the tasks undertaken by TTCI was to survey the entire Metro-North system for areas exhibiting surfacing issues like fouled ballast and poor drainage. One of the 654 such areas it found was the POD.[1]

Conclusion

The NTSB did not issue its report until October 2014, due to delays caused by its investigation of a derailment of a Metro-North passenger train near the same site in December 2013, which caused the first passenger fatalities in Metro-North's history. In the report, the NTSB found the accident had not been caused by any of the CSX crew's actions, nor those of Metro-North's dispatchers. There were no mechanical problems with the train, and the waste containers had been loaded properly and were within their permitted weights. The signal system was also working properly.[1]

Instead, it found the proximate cause of the accident to be the excessive track gauge at the POD. It, in turn, resulted from the soil infiltration of the underlying ballast, which had itself been the result of inadequate drainage. As trains passed over that section of track, the stored water was pumped within the ballast, compromising the track's ability to support the train. Eventually the ties began to crack in the center and abrade at the ends, and the rails themselves begin to cant outwards, gradually exceeding permitted gauge limits, as the track had in this case. Ultimately, the fault was Metro-North's for failing to follow its own maintenance schedule, the NTSB said.[1]

Four days later, the NTSB issued a press release noting that Metro-North had experienced five major accidents, resulting in four passenger and two worker fatalities (the first in its history), in the space of 10 months. Its investigations had identified "several safety management problems that were common to all of the accidents", among them "inadequate and ineffective track inspection and maintenance [and] extensive deferred maintenance issues" such as those that had contributed to the CSX derailment. All were "deficiencies in ... organizational safety culture", the agency said, that could make a huge difference if corrected.[2]

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Event data recorder

Event data recorder

An event data recorder (EDR), more specifically motor vehicle event data recorder (MVEDR), similar to an accident data recorder (ADR) sometimes referred to informally as an automotive black box, is a device installed in some automobiles to record information related to traffic collisions. In the USA EDRs must meet federal standards, as described within the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.

Flange

Flange

A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase strength ; for easy attachment/transfer of contact force with another object ; or for stabilizing and guiding the movements of a machine or its parts. Flanges are often attached using bolts in the pattern of a bolt circle. The term "flange" is also used for a kind of tool used to form flanges.

Pandrol

Pandrol

Pandrol is a global rail technology company, founded in 1953 and operating in over 100 countries worldwide, with over 400 railway systems having adopted its products.

Track gauge

Track gauge

In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge differences often present a barrier to wider operation on railway networks.

Google Earth

Google Earth

Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Users can explore the globe by entering addresses and coordinates, or by using a keyboard or mouse. The program can also be downloaded on a smartphone or tablet, using a touch screen or stylus to navigate. Users may use the program to add their own data using Keyhole Markup Language and upload them through various sources, such as forums or blogs. Google Earth is able to show various kinds of images overlaid on the surface of the earth and is also a Web Map Service client. In 2019, Google has revealed that Google Earth now covers more than 97 percent of the world, and has captured 10 million miles of Street View imagery.

Track geometry car

Track geometry car

A track geometry car is an automated track inspection vehicle on a rail transport system used to test several parameters of the track geometry without obstructing normal railroad operations. Some of the parameters generally measured include position, curvature, alignment of the track, smoothness, and the crosslevel of the two rails. The cars use a variety of sensors, measuring systems, and data management systems to create a profile of the track being inspected.

Engineering tolerance

Engineering tolerance

Engineering tolerance is the permissible limit or limits of variation in:a physical dimension; a measured value or physical property of a material, manufactured object, system, or service; other measured values ; in engineering and safety, a physical distance or space (tolerance), as in a truck (lorry), train or boat under a bridge as well as a train in a tunnel ; in mechanical engineering, the space between a bolt and a nut or a hole, etc.

Fairfield train crash

Fairfield train crash

The Fairfield/Bridgeport train crash occurred on May 17, 2013, when a Metro-North Railroad passenger train derailed between the Fairfield Metro and Bridgeport stations in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the United States. The derailed train fouled the adjacent line and a train heading in the opposite direction then collided with it. There were at least 65 injured among the approximately 250 people on board each of the two trains. Metro-North reported damages at $18.5 million.

December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment

December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment

On the morning of December 1, 2013, a Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line passenger train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the New York City borough of the Bronx. Four of the 115 passengers were killed and another 61 injured; the accident caused $9 million worth of damage. It was the deadliest train accident within New York City since a 1991 subway derailment in Manhattan, and the first accident in Metro-North's history to result in passenger fatalities. The additional $60 million in legal claims paid out as of 2020 have also made it the costliest accident in Metro-North's history.

Train dispatcher

Train dispatcher

A train dispatcher (US), rail traffic controller (Canada), train controller (Australia), train service controller (Singapore) or signaller (UK), is employed by a railroad to direct and facilitate the movement of trains over an assigned territory, which is usually part, or all, of a railroad operating division. The dispatcher is also responsible for cost effective movement of trains and other on-track railroad equipment to optimize physical (trains) and human resource (crews) assets.

Source: "July 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, August 6th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2013_Spuyten_Duyvil_derailment.

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See also
Notes
  1. ^ Most freight leaving New York City or Long Island for destinations to the south of the city must first go north up the east side of the Hudson to where it can cross over to Selkirk, NY, 140 miles (230 km) north of the city, and then begin its journey southwards.
  2. ^ Likewise, freight traffic to the city from the south must also go up through Selkirk and then down the east side of the river.
  3. ^ The CSX trains, powered by diesel-fueled electromotor locomotives, do not use the third rails.
  4. ^ According to the NTSB report, the train's event data recorder showed that the train had reached a speed of 19 miles per hour (31 km/h) going through the curve this way.
References
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Railroad Accident Brief: Metro-North Railroad Derailment" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. October 24, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Holloway, Keith (October 28, 2014). "Ineffective Safety Management a Common Theme in Five Recent Metro-North Accidents" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Flegenheimer, Matt; Hu, Winnie (July 20, 2013). "Metro-North Line Is Tied Up After a Freight Train Derails". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  4. ^ "Hudson Line" (PDF). Metro-North Railroad. November 9, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  5. ^ "Train Hauling Trash Derails in Bronx, Metro-North Service Suspended". WNBC-TV. July 19, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Reconstruction Complete Following Hudson Line Freight Derailment at Spuyten Duyvil". Metro-North Railroad. July 31, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  7. ^ "Metro-North service back after freight train derailment". Newsday. July 21, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  8. ^ Bowen, Douglas John (July 26, 2013). "Metro-North: Normal Hudson Line service Monday". Railway Age. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
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