July 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment
Spuyten Duyvil derailment (July 2013) | |
---|---|
Bronx, NY | |
Coordinates | 40°52′33″N 73°55′01″W / 40.87590°N 73.91681°W |
Country | United States |
Line | Hudson Line |
Operator | CSX |
Incident type | Derailment |
Cause | Excessive track gauge[1] |
Statistics | |
Trains | 1 |
Crew | 4 |
Deaths | 0 |
Injured | 0 |
Damage | US$827,000[1] |
On the evening of July 18, 2013, a
After investigating the accident, the
Background
From Oak Point the train went first south along the
There are generally two tracks along this stretch, both
In Metro-North territory, the train passed the
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,
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]
Aftermath
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
Metro-North crews began working within hours to assess the damage. By morning
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
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
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]
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
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 5⁄16-inch (7.9 mm) variance from gauge.[1]
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+3⁄4 inches (1,470 mm) for Class 2 track. Both values were within tolerance.[1]
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
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
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]
See also
- List of rail accidents (2010–2019)
- 1882 Spuyten Duyvil train wreck, crash that killed eight on now-removed section of track just east of the rock cut where the derailment happened.
Notes
- ^ 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.
- ^ Likewise, freight traffic to the city from the south must also go up through Selkirk and then down the east side of the river.
- electromotorlocomotives, do not use the third rails.
- ^ 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
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Hudson Line" (PDF). Metro-North Railroad. November 9, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- WNBC-TV. July 19, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ a b "Reconstruction Complete Following Hudson Line Freight Derailment at Spuyten Duyvil". Metro-North Railroad. July 31, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ "Metro-North service back after freight train derailment". Newsday. July 21, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ Bowen, Douglas John (July 26, 2013). "Metro-North: Normal Hudson Line service Monday". Railway Age. Retrieved May 26, 2015.