Posted on 12/03/2013 9:09:57 AM PST by Hojczyk
MANHATTAN — Investigators believe the motorman at the controls in the deadly Metro-North Railroad derailment in the Bronx Sunday dozed off for a few fateful moments and woke up too late to stop the speeding train from hurtling off the tracks, DNAinfo New York has learned.
Veteran engineer William Rockefeller all but admitted he was falling asleep as the train came roaring to a curved section of track north of Spuyten Duyvil in statements made shortly after four people were killed and dozens were injured in the wreck, sources said.
He apparently woke up just as the train, traveling at 82 mph, was heading into a precarious curve that called for the train's speed to be reduced to just 30 mph.
As the train entered the curve, sources said, Rockefeller was jolted from his sleep and hit the brake, but not in time. The cars derailed, and several careened onto their sides before grinding to a halt on the edge of the Harlem River. Four people were killed, three of whom were thrown out of the cars, and more than 60 others were injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at dnainfo.com ...
as he alone in the cab?I thought there were always two operators in a locomotive.
I used to ride these trains (New Haven Line into Metro North 1974 - 1981). These cars came into service about 1975. They are more like subway cars than locomotive and cars.
>>>Apparently the good people of New York did not see fit to install the simple systems that would prevent such disasters.<<<
Probably can’t afford them, when they pay conductors (tiket takers) $150,000 to $200,000 or more per year for a job far less demanding than the French Fry station at McDonald’s.
Until they were recently busted, over 90% of those same overpaid ticket takers were retiring fraudulently on “disability” and getting a big increase in retirement benefits.
I would think that train engineers, at this point in time, should be the second-level of safety and control - not the first. There should be no way that that train should be capable of getting anywhere near that curve at that speed. There should be sensors along the track that monitor speed, and an auto-feedback that adjusts speed if inappropriate for that section of track.
“Dozing” hung over?
“Dozing” high?
Help me out here.
The Washington Metro trains are run by computer with human operators essentially as backup. A good idea, considering the quality of the human train operators.
My understanding is that is roughly what ATC is supposed to do.
For what other reason than the fact that the train operator is a union member and democrat voter do we even have human operators on trains anymore?
There are: it's called Positive Train Control and the railroads are investing hundreds of millions in it, and the FRA has required it to be in place in 2015 (doubt coverage will be more than about 20% by then) but it's a slow and challenging process to roll out.
Four people were killed, three of whom were thrown out of the cars...
Ya’ll are missing the point, they should have been wearing
seatbelts, the train should not have started until everyone
was buckled up.
See, it’s easy to think like a liberal, but it
hurts my brain.
No air bags either....darn...
How is it they don’t have some version of a deadman-switch on there? I can’t see the families of those who died, or were injured, being relieved with this excuse, particularly when he survived it.
Well, that's a real problem now.
Whose fault is it when private employees sleep on the job?
The man’s, of course.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, twice a year I'd drive nonstop overnight MA to FL. The overnight was fine for staying awake. I agree with you about that "tired" window. For me it's an hour or so just before sunrise.
The news said the engineer had recently switched from night hours to days that started at 5AM. I could see the internal clock being messed up, especially this time of year with the shortest days.
The answer would be so simple. Why not just have an engineer and an assistant engineer on each train? Instead they'll spend billions nationwide on equipment to prevent this, and more on workers to maintain the equipment than a second person would cost.
Another example of running on stupid.
I think I saw that they had three conductors on this not-nearly-peak train.
For what they pay these union guys you would think they could substitute another engineer for one of the conductors and have him serve conducting duty at times if necessary.
At least for the very early and very late trains.
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