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I doubt it. Rocks get kicked up into these trains all the time, shouldn't be enough to derail a train and kill 4 people. New Yorkers pay insane taxes, astronomical bridge and tunnel tolls, and suffer from ever increasing fares. The reason for this we are told is that we need to pay union members 100k a year to properly operate and maintain these trains in order to be safe. We shall see what the investigation uncovers.
If the brakes did fail, then the engineer could not have applied brakes before the curve resulting in the train far exceeding the speed limit. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying the rock itself derailed the train. One-in-a-million chances happen all the time. Think about Challenger, or Columbia space shuttles. For Challenger, the odds were very small that the rocket booster should burn through exactly where it did. For Columbia, the odds were very small that the foam should hit the wing nearly head-on at exactly the right time. In both of these cases, the burn-through and foam strikes had happened plenty of times before, just those particular times they beat the odds and hit just right to cause a problem.
If the brakes did fail, then the engineer could not have applied brakes before the curve resulting in the train far exceeding the speed limit. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying the rock itself derailed the train. One-in-a-million chances happen all the time. Think about Challenger, or Columbia space shuttles. For Challenger, the odds were very small that the rocket booster should burn through exactly where it did. For Columbia, the odds were very small that the foam should hit the wing nearly head-on at exactly the right time. In both of these cases, the burn-through and foam strikes had happened plenty of times before, just those particular times they beat the odds and hit just right to cause a problem.
Actually, with Columbia, and especially with Challenger, the risks were totally real, measurable, and actually foreseen. The problem there was that NASA was a governmental/political organization that strived to look good to the public on the surface by having rockets launch on time in order to keep the government bacon flowing in. I guess the MTA works in the same sort of way. We shall see.
If there was a mechanical failure, the fact that the stretch of tracks above Spuyten Duyvil are relatively straight, where trains travel at higher rates of speed, would contribute to the severity of this derailment. From the reports I have read, the engineer was experienced, so it would not have been a case of not being familiar with that particular area of track. It was such a tragic accident, and I hope the cause is easily identified, especially if it leads to improved safety. Someone I know who lives right near the crash site on Palisade said that the scene was scary to view in person, knowing that so many were critically injured, and the four people who died in this incident.
The Harlem Line trains will likely take much of the Hudson traffic until rail service is restored on that stretch of track. So, commutes will be a bit more difficult, with much more crowded trains. I think the MTA is planning extra service on the 1-train to take MNR traffic from Yonkers via shuttle bus.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
"The train operator -- who is among the injured -- told investigators he applied brakes to the train, but it didn't slow down, a law enforcement official on the scene and familiar with the investigation said."
Taken from the news article. I think it's relatively safe to say it was mechanical failure and not an inexperienced or sleeping operator like some are implying.
"The train operator -- who is among the injured -- told investigators he applied brakes to the train"
It's possible that he did apply the brakes, but too late, or while going too fast. 4 dead, 63 injured after NYC-bound Metro-North passenger train derails in Bronx - NY Daily News
“It’s definitely human error,” a different source told The News. “The speed was excessive.”
“We were going so fast around that turn, something wasn’t right,” ...
"Passengers said the train seemed to be traveling too fast to take the curve safely."
"NTSB investigators ... recovered the train’s “black box” which records the speed and will note if the engineer did try to apply the brakes."
It will be demonstrated with a blackboard and a pointer that Al-Quaida was responsible and we will immediately invade YEMEN.
Last edited by Kefir King; 12-02-2013 at 06:03 AM..
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