The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
NTSB: bend in track caused Rye, N.Y. derailment
A “nasty kink” in a Metro-North track — possibly caused by excessive heat — led to the May derailment of a commuter train that injured 16 people after leaving Stamford for New York City, federal investigators said.
The May 18 accident in Rye, N.Y., came after Metro-North learned of the bend in the steel tracks, attempted repairs and lowered the speed limit from 60 mph to 10 mph, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
One engineer, after traveling over the suspect section of track hours prior to the derailment, radioed Metro-North controllers and said “Yeah, that kink is pretty bad… I went over it doing 15 (mph) and I could still feel it pretty significantly,” the NTSB said.
Metro-North Train 1373, carrying 185 passengers and traveling from Stamford to Grand Central Terminal, derailed at about 5 p.m. as five of its 12 cars left the tracks.
The NTSB did not offer a cause for the accident — which injured 14 passengers and two crew members — or say whether it was appropriate to keep using the section of track after reports of problems and an attempt by Metro-North to repair the rails.
Nancy Gamerman, a Metro-North spokeswoman, said the engineer operating the train was at fault for the accident.
“According to the preliminary investigation, the engineer failed to properly comply with a 10 mph temporary speed restriction that was in effect for a heatinduced track alignment change,” Gamerman said. “The engineer involved has been removed from service.”
The accident appears far worse than initially thought, said James Cameron, a founder of the Commuter Action Group and a Hearst columnist, after reading the NTSB report.
“This really looks like negligence,” Cameron said. “How could they let trains operate there at any speed?”
Federal investigators noted it was unusually hot that day — an early heat wave pushed temperatures to 93 degrees — and more trains than usual were traveling over the track because of repairs on other tracks.
A spokesman for the state Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment.
The NTSB is continuing its investigation and will issue a final report in the coming months. ‘Heat related problems’ The NTSB said about 85 trains per day normally operate over the section of Track 3 where Train 1373 derailed. But because Track 1 was out of service, about 104 trains per day were operating on Track 3 the day of the accident.
Federal investigators said numerous trains passed over the bent rail without incident, and noted MetroNorth at one point during the afternoon attempted to make repairs.
NTSB said at 1:20 p.m. the engineer of Metro North train 1359 reported a possible track condition on Track 3 between catenary bridges 213 and 214 — the area where the derailment occurred.
“At the time, two track inspectors were in their hi-rail vehicle conducting a track inspection for potential heat related track problems near the area,” the NTSB said.
“They proceeded to the location and found the track was misaligned,” the NTSB said. “They made repairs and, at 2:02 p.m., gave the track back to the rail traffic controller for normal operating speed.”
By 2:54 p.m., the NTSB said the engineer of MetroNorth train 1365 reported a “real nasty kink in the rail” on Track 3, at the eventual site of the derailment.
Metro North placed a 30-mph speed restriction on the track, and that limit was later reduced to 10 mph, the report said.
Metro-North officials noted excessive heat can cause tracks to become misaligned.
“The track supervisor said that he thought the track was misaligned about two inches, but he did not measure the deviation,” the NTSB said. “He watched about four trains pass over the area, and said the deviation did not change.”
The NTSB added “About one-half hour later, the rail traffic controller called and told him that the area had worsened. Shortly thereafter, he was notified that Train 1373 derailed.”