Amtrak derailment in New Haven,CT - 10PM 10/28

I'm heading down to check it out...

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2496170

Article says 78 pax aboard and no injuries. That's good news...hope it was low speed, and minimal damage to equipment.

The Police have a large area blocked off to traffic and curious onlookers - this is in a tough section of New Haven, BTW - but I and some news camera people were given permission to peer over a fence from a homeowner next to the track cut. I saw several coach cars which seemed on the track, but obviously without power. I did see several people inside those cars reading with flashlights or using laptop computers, despite the apparent claims by some Police that all passengers had been evacuated.

The line tower that was hit is leaning considerably and the fire/rescue people at the seen were a bit concerned, even though the lines have been de-energized.

I see if any of the pictures from my small camera came out and will post them if I can make anything out.

update from the AP via the Boston Globe

The southbound 67 is already affected, possibly affected train 169 as well.

This the first time one of the Acelas has had a derailment?

(New Haven-WTNH/AP, Oct. 29, 2004 Updated 8:00 AM) _ Metro North says it has resumed service on the New Haven Line. Metro North says the first train from New Haven was the 6:24 a.m. Four earlier trains left from Bridgeport.

Service is back on one track. Metro-North says there may be some delays for trains headings into New Haven from points south since only one track is open. Amtrak is reporting a 90 minute delay and Metro North is reporting 10 minute delays........

The rest of the story:
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=2496668

David Telesha wrote: And with a catenary bridge and wires down in the middle of the night no less, I'd say you'll be "up the creek" if you ride into NYC before noon tomorrow unless CDOT or Amtrak finds some spare diesels (laughing out loud) to tow the electrics through the dead area.

That's funny. A similar situation happened with a freight train in the worst possible place for Amtrak, the Hellgate Line. Amtrak dispatched FP40s!!!!!!!! They towed us through. New Haven doesn't house any "spare diesels" over there?

tracks were obstructed by low catenary after a structure came down.
so diesels won't help much.
yes New haven has several diesels.

The train in question was 2191 running from Boston to New York (contrary to press reports that said the train was going to DC).

As far as I know, this is the first in-service derailment of an Acela Express, though I think one derailed while being delivered to Amtrak from the Bombardier plant some time ago.

It was inevitable; an Acela Express involved in a derailment incident.

Let's thank whatever divine being each of us addresses that it was neither Chase nor Eschede.

It's being reported on another board that the Acela derailed due to an unauthorised backup move after the train ran a red signal. The train ran through a switch not lined for their movement and derailed.

That's the 2nd time I can recall the Acela being involved in a movement against signal indications on the NH line, although the first was a narrowly avoided collision due to quick response by the engineer on the other (MN) train

Methinks some engineers need a refresher course.

what was the number of the set?

From what I've gathered, it was set #18 (the one with power cars 2023 and 2025).

thanks yea the ACSES wouldn't let him back up through the light, it would stop the train w/ a penalty

But if this was on Metro North trackage, I don't think they have ACSES in place there. And IIRC, though I'm far from an expert, trains on the NEC can proceed through a red signal at 15 mph or less without any automatic overrides.

hsr_fan wrote:But if this was on Metro North trackage, I don't think they have ACSES in place there. And IIRC, though I'm far from an expert, trains on the NEC can proceed through a red signal at 15 mph or less without any automatic overrides.

Exactly right.

no ACSES on this section of track (MN cab signals) and you can pass red at restrictive speed under some circumstances.

the first time this happened, the Acela had a failure in it's cab signal system. Instead of proceeding at a restricted speed, the engineer took the train far above the authorised speed for movements goverened by waysides on MN and consequently could not stop in time when a restrictive signal presented itself at the next CP.

I'm certainly no expert on ACSES, but keep in mind that a penalty application of brakes still cannot stop a train on a dime, and the possibility of running past the signal still exists, although with a protective signal system this run over should be minimal if it exists at all.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the MN signalling system and ACSES can provide more details of the differences and how this can happen.