Incident at Hoboken Station

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/train-crashes-new-jersey-transit-hoboken-station-article-1.2811435

Pascack Valley Line train 1614 failed to stop on track 4, went through the bumper block and into the main concourse taking down the roof and canopy with it. Pretty serious. The first car looks like a Comet V cab car which is mostly in the station concourse.

Station has been shut down including PATH service. Looks like it will take a while before service is restored through Hoboken, which means it will be total nightmare on the NEC and the bus lines and traffic into New York from the west of Hudson for a while.
 
TylerP42 said:
Over 100 injured. Multiple reports of trapped people.
Click to expand...
Multiple fire departments are involved with heavy rescue equipment New Jersey Task Force One for emergency has been activated.

I wonder what mitigating measures will be taken to divert traffic away from Hoboken while the station remains shut down, other than the usual cross-honoring of tickets.
 
Is it possible to terminate the Hoboken bound trains in Secaucus Junction and Newark Broad Street? It would take longer but anyone could still get to NYC by only rail with a transfer at either Secaucus Junction or Newark Broad Street and Newark Penn Stations.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
"There's no way you could get to the engineer." "The train was going way faster than it should of" "the train should of stopped 30-40ft before the bumber" - NJT worker who will probably get fired because I doubt he's supposed to be talking on the news
 
jis said:
There is report from the inside now that one of the dead is the Engineer. This of course complicates matters a whole heck of a lot since the actual time of death or disablement becomes a very relevant issue.
Click to expand...
A freight engineer on the news said "I saw the engineer. He was slumped over in the cab, someone said he was alive but I don't know"
 
ayezee said:
Granted we don't have all the facts but is this another accident that would have been prevented by positive train control?
Click to expand...
No. As defined by FRA and designed today PTC is not designed for operation on terminal tracks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yet I'm sure some loudmouth nut job politician will A. Blame the engineer before he's even cold, and B. Blame the lack of PTC. Really hoping for an act of nature as the cause.
 
I used to work in Hoboken Terminal for many years as the Crew Dispatcher. A former co-worker who still works in that office ( now in another location ) has given me the name of the engineer, who is someone I do not know. CNN just made erroneous remarks that the engineer was not at the point of impact, but at the rear of the train on the locomotive. Totally inaccurate. With a few exceptions, the push pull trains were always arranged with the locomotive on the west end away from the terminal and the cab car on the east end. While I have not worked there in over 20 years, this is very familiar territory and am feeling quite upset.
 
WNBC actually interviewed (via phone) the Editor of Railway Age Magazine and he did a great job of explaining the make up of the train, the track layout around Hoboken and the various emergency systems.
 
TylerP42 said:
"There's no way you could get to the engineer." "The train was going way faster than it should of" "the train should of stopped 30-40ft before the bumber" - NJT worker who will probably get fired because I doubt he's supposed to be talking on the news
Click to expand...
I saw that interview also and thought the same thing. I'm in a fire department and rule #1 with the media is the Incident Commander (chief) either does the interview himself or designates another officer to do it after a private discussion. Linemen never get interviewed. This guy will be in trouble. EDIT: I am assuming the same hierarchy rules apply to the NJT employees regarding media interviews after a major incident. I might be totally wrong.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is there anything that prevents PTC from being programmed to prevent trains from running into stations? At first glance it seems like kind of an obvious oversight from a threat analysis and event prevention perspective.
 
Listening to the press conference now...This info will be roughly random as it is rapid fire and I cannot catch it all. Per Gov Christie - they are expecting to run full rush hour capacity this afternoon. They are running extra light rail. The #126 line will have increased trips. check the NJT & MNRR websites for transit coverage. 1 confirmed dead, 108 injured. Passengers wanting to get west of the Hudson are told to go to either Tarrytown or Beacon. Shuttle busses will take them across the river. All Path service is unaffected. Engineers are actively working on ensuring the structural integrity of the building & electric lines. There is no timetable estimate. When pressed, Christie says it will be at least 1 day, probably a bit more until we have a solid timeframe estimate on repair. Christie says they do NOT yet know why it happened (or unwilling to state it publicly) - the engineer is talking to the NTSB & law enforcement right now. Two reports are asking him about PTC (NOTE JIS' comments above about in-terminal PTC use) and if it played a role. Christie and Cuomo stated that once the cause is known, they will task NJT & MNRR with coming up with a solution to prevent it from happening - the reporters keep asking about PTC. Neither governor is making any solid comments on PTC . Christie noted the ceiling was "old style", and the train took out some key pillars which caused the unfortunate roof collapse. Most but not all injuries were inside the train. The single fatality was a person outside the train, standing near the platform (via the roof collapse).

Another briefing will be held once there are official reports out.
 
The part of the building that collapsed would be the roof over the concourse, which runs north-south between the main waiting room area and the terminal tracks. Gov. Christie referred to it as an old time structure that was damaged. I do not know if it was completely rebuilt some years ago, but it was modified to include the skylights seen in today's coverage.
 
It is a relief to see that the reported demise of the engineer was false alarm. A ray of good new among the bad.

greatcats said:
The part of the building that collapsed would be the roof over the concourse, which runs north-south between the main waiting room area and the terminal tracks. Gov. Christie referred to it as an old time structure that was damaged. I do not know if it was completely rebuilt some years ago, but it was modified to include the skylights seen in today's coverage.
Click to expand...
I believe that the basic support structure was just stabilized with repair of the base of the pillars, but no additional supporting pillars were added.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
jis said:
It is a relief to see that the reported demise of the engineer was false alarm. A ray of good new among the bad.

greatcats said:
The part of the building that collapsed would be the roof over the concourse, which runs north-south between the main waiting room area and the terminal tracks. Gov. Christie referred to it as an old time structure that was damaged. I do not know if it was completely rebuilt some years ago, but it was modified to include the skylights seen in today's coverage.
Click to expand...
I believe that the basic support structure was just stabilized with repair of the base of the pillars, but no additional supporting pillars were added.
Click to expand...
I don't know if he passed or not. The engineer said he wasn't sure if he was alive or Not, just that he heard someone say they think he's still alive. Details may be wrong. It was a freight engineer who was interviewed on CNN
 

Latest posts

Back
Top