Derailment Near Southampton Yard

According to NBC Boston: https://twitter.com/KatNBCBoston/status ... 2665981953
There was a derailment yesterday (April 9) at South Station caused by a collision of two commuter rail trains.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/mbta-commu ... n/27093623" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like human error is the cause of this collision and derailment. The out-of-service train appears to have run a stop single.

I'll be that guy and ask how this apparently human error of running a red signal happened with ACSES gear in place on the cab car? Was ACSES not installed on this track? Can PTC prevent such an occurrence going forward assuming the red signal was indicating turnout position onto the converged tracks?

The station and its throat may be PTC-exempt because they're within yard limits.

johnpbarlow wrote:I'll be that guy and ask how this apparently human error of running a red signal happened with ACSES gear in place on the cab car? Was ACSES not installed on this track? Can PTC prevent such an occurrence going forward assuming the red signal was indicating turnout position onto the converged tracks?

Yes PTC would have forced the train to stop however as stated, there is no PTC installed in the area since MAS is only 20 in the area. There is another major factor here in this instance aside from the stop signal violation and I’m only going to say that the engineer did not knowingly operate past the red signal on the train that wasn’t in service.

From that, I deduce that he UNknowingly passed a stop.

I’ll go as far as saying the cndr is the one that bears almost all of the responsibility for this one.

So it's really a collision that caused a derailment, not a a derailment as it is being portrayed. Looks like some damage to the equipment! Was the out-of-service train backing up or going forward?

What's really embarrassing is the FOUR passengers and SIX employees on board the inbound train were not injured. FOUR passengers!! Is that typical? I assume they mean two for the out-of-service train and four workers for the Fairmont train, one for each passenger! Maybe some of the employees were just heading home for the night.

Based on previous postings re: engineer not knowingly passing a red signal, can it be inferred the engineer was in the locomotive and a crewman was in the cab car of the out-of-service train as it was being pushed toward the switch onto the track to South Station? And the crewman at the head of the shove didn't see either the red dwarf signal or that the the outbound Hyde Park train was fouling the switch?
I think this Google Earth view shows the turnout where the collision occurred near the Broadway St overpass circled in red while the south facing dwarf signals protecting the interlocking are circled in blue.

I would say you are on the right path.

The accident occurred between the 4th St and Traveler St bridges, adjacent to the throat for the Red Line's Cabot Yard.

If by Travelers St, you mean it’s name-contination as W Broadway, then yes. That is the area shown above.

johnpbarlow wrote: think this Google Earth view shows the turnout where the collision occurred near the Broadway St overpass circled in red while the south facing dwarf signals protecting the interlocking are circled in blue.

God knows if the US ever gets serious about RR electrification, I should buy stock in whomever makes catenary poles....

("but it's only a few clicks in Autocad and it looks nicer!!!")

Nasadowsk wrote:
("but it's only a few clicks in Autocad and it looks nicer!!!")

Autocad makes everything look awesome-but is it able to actually be built in the field at a reasonable cost?-NO!

Trinnau wrote:And while the 1514 was involved, it was not on the in-service train. It was on the train that ran the signal. Images show the 1533 was the control car on the in-service train.

Quoting this from an other thread.

I had thought that 1533 was the control cab on the out-of-service train that passed the stop single and drove into the side of the other train. If that is not the case, were both trains traveling in the same direction then and came together after 1533 couldn't stop in time?