Major train crash NJ

[MarkD]

Thanks for the concern folks, I appreciate it.

Like I said, there's something that just doesn't pass the sniff test here. Reports say the train was going 30 to 40 mph when it got to the station, but it's only supposed to be going 10-15 mph on the approaches to the platform tracks.

I'm taking the day off today, hopefully things will settle for the commute next week.

[Termite]

Like I said, there's something that just doesn't pass the sniff test here. Reports say the train was going 30 to 40 mph when it got to the station, but it's only supposed to be going 10-15 mph on the approaches to the platform tracks.

My thoughts:

#1. Engineer asleep at the controls.
#2. Mechanical failure.

#3.<tinfoil hat>Aloha Snackbar.....

[Weetabix]

Engineer texting?

Glad you're alright, Mark.

[Darrell]

Engineer texting?

Glad you're alright, Mark.

My first thought. Same on both counts.

[evan price]

Engineer texting?

Glad you're alright, Mark.

Look at all those Pokemon!

[BDK]

Admittedly, this was on a freight train, but I could have sworn there were switches meant to stop a train if the engineer had a heart attack/fell asleep

[First Shirt]

The engines I worked with, during my brief stint with Chicago&Northwestern, all had dead-man controls. The engineer had to manually hold the throttle in the forward or backward position; if he let go, it was spring-loaded to return to the neutral position. And the throttle handle screwed into the control, and the engineer took with him when he left the engine.

Of course, this was 25 years ago, so things have probably changed since then. (Or maybe not. The last steam engine was retired in 1949, but the railroad unions didn't eliminate the fireman position until 1964.)

[MarkD]

Oh, it just gets better.

The train had two "black box" data recorders, one in the locomotive (which was at the rear of the train) and one in the control cab (at the front), the front is still under debris so they didn't get at it yet, but they removed the one from the loco.


It wasn't operating during the trip.

I can only imagine what would happen if a private corporation railroad was involved in a fatal accident and the data recorders weren't functioning, but this being a government-run entity I'm sure nothing will happen (except the tax payers will be on the hook for the lawsuits which will inevitably follow).

Oh, the engineer has no memory of the accident, he recalls looking at his speedometer in the yard and it read 10 mph (and the NJT authorities said he was going around 30 mph), and the next thing he knew he was on the floor in the station.

Pardon me while I throw the bullshit flag.

[MarkD]

News reports state that it's OK that the loco didn't have a functioning data recorder, that Federal law only requires one in the head-end of the train. Except those trains run in push-pull service, on the way into Hoboken the loco is at the rear of the train, pushing the cars. On the way FROM Hoboken it's in front, pulling the cars (IOW they don't turn the train at either end of the run). Which means on the way OUT it still had a non-functioning recorder.

I'm running out of bullshit flags.

[HTRN]

Pardon me while I throw the bullshit flag.

A nj public sector union members involved in a Disaster? I'm surprised he even admitted to being there.