New Jersey railway put trains in Sandy flood zone despite warnings

Reuters ^ | Sat Nov 17, 2012 6:03pm EST | By Janet Roberts and Ryan McNeill and Robin Respaut

[DeaconBenjamin]

New Jersey Transit's struggle to recover from Superstorm Sandy is being compounded by a pre-storm decision to park much of its equipment in two rail yards that forecasters predicted would flood, a move that resulted in damage to one-third of its locomotives and a quarter of its passenger cars.

That damage is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and take many months to repair, a Reuters examination has found.

The Garden State's commuter railway parked critical equipment - including much of its newest and most expensive stock - at its low-lying main rail yard in Kearny just before the hurricane. It did so even though forecasters had released maps showing the wetland-surrounded area likely would be under water when Sandy's expected record storm surge hit. Other equipment was parked at its Hoboken terminal and rail yard, where flooding also was predicted and which has flooded before.

Among the damaged equipment: nine dual-powered locomotive engines and 84 multi-level rail cars purchased over the past six years at a cost of about $385 million.

"If there's a predicted 13-foot or 10-foot storm surge, you don't leave your equipment in a low-lying area," said David Schanoes, a railroad consultant and former deputy chief of field operations for Metro North Railroad, a sister railway serving New York State. "It's just basic railroading. You don't leave your equipment where it can be damaged."

As of Friday, almost three weeks after the storm, the agency was still struggling to restore full service for its 136,000 daily rail commuters, running just 37 trains into New York Penn Station during the morning rush hour, rather than its usual 63. More service will be restored on Monday. The disruptions have caused long delays and crowded trains for Jersey residents who work in the biggest U.S. city.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I love New Jersey. It’s just its political leaders I can’t stand.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Who do you think you are, DC politicians?

Calling Al Gore, Mop Up in Railroad yard.

[Past Your Eyes]

[miss marmelstein]

Nothing, but nothing, surprises me about the swamp that is New Jersey.

[Yo-Yo]

Willie Green is deeply saddened.

[Dutch Boy]

Was this an attempt to get new trains?

[cripplecreek]

I had a neighbor who was hoping for a tree to fall on his car. He used to park it under a tree in the middle of his yard every time it got stormy.

[COBOL2Java]

Politicians know more than engineers! Ask the geniuses in Washington DC! [shakes head]

[Publius]

No, this was a failure to envision a proper worst case scenario. It happens sometimes. Some heads need to roll.

[cripplecreek]

Willie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lutNECOZFw

[Alberta's Child]

This article overlooks a lot of items that came into play in northern New Jersey. For one thing, most of the railyards used by NJ TRANSIT are located in low-lying areas where flooding is a potential problem. The reason for this is simple: In a place like New Jersey where there are many ranges of hills, the railroads were originally built along the few areas with level terrain: the river valleys. This is why Raritan Yard was built in the flood plain for the Raritan River, Dover Yard was built along the Rockaway River, Port Morris Yard was built between Lake Hopatcong and the Musconetcong River.

NJ TRANSIT made the same understandable mistake many people and leaders in New Jersey made with this storm. They based their storm preparations on the recent experience with Hurricane Irene last year. That storm brought drenching rain that caused severe flooding throughout the interior of New Jersey, while coastal flooding wasn't very bad. This storm brought little rain but a coastal storm surge of historic proportions, which meant the flooding wasn't the same as was last time.

[RitchieAprile]

the basic problems with railcars is that you need to park them in rail yards.

[Alberta's Child]

Exactly.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

How do you spell “FLOODS” and “STORM SURGE”?

In New Jersey, it’s spelled “STUPID”, “INCOMPETENT”, “SHORT-SIGHTED”, of just plain “DUMB and DUMBER”.

[BfloGuy]

No, this was a failure to envision a proper worst case scenario. It happens sometimes. Some heads need to roll.

A private railroad -- one in which the stockholder-owners of valuable capital expected reasonable fiduciary responsibility from management -- might have put more thought into this decision. What happened last year probably wouldn't suffice.

[raybbr]

Please, don’t believe this was and accident. They knew full well what would happen. Now, they will beg the taxpayer to buy new ones. Just think of all the union jobs that will “save”.

[Publius]

New Jersey Transit is made up of assets that once belonged to the Pennsylvania, Erie Lackawanna, Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley railroads.

Metro North is made up of assets from the New Haven and New York Central railroads.

All these entities were driven out of business by a combination of unions and government over-regulation.

The resulting transportation authorities are political constructs, which often means that concepts like fiduciary responsibility and common sense are left at the door.

[Alberta's Child]

I believe most of the NJ TRANSIT fleet is manufactured by Bombardier in Quebec. To add insult to injury, there are likely to be extensive delays in the repairs and replacement of this rolling stock ... since the workers at the Bombardier plant have been on strike for a while.

[Yo-Yo]

That sounds more like a Rob Schneider bit from SNL.

[raybbr]

I believe most of the NJ TRANSIT fleet is manufactured by Bombardier in Quebec. To add insult to injury, there are likely to be extensive delays in the repairs and replacement of this rolling stock ... since the workers at the Bombardier plant have been on strike for a while.

Oh, I'm sure there is some American Unionized company that will standing in line waiting for the money.