PL42 4020 Accident Damage

Eek, I never knew one of these was involved in such a serious grade crossing collision! Good thing it wasn't the cab car leading.

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When it comes to speed and other comparisons, the 6001 hitting the truck at little falls was much worse. Everybody walked away from that one too. While I wouldn't want to be in a cab car to hit anything bigger than a deer, so far all the cabs that have been leading have performed as expected when it cones to the structure of the car.

I was surprised by the description: "The locomotives fate is yet to be determined." That looks fairly minor in the grand scheme of things - certainly repairable and worth repairing on a relatively young and expensive locomotive.

Things do not always appear to be as simple as they look.

Great shot Sully. Thanks for sharing, as always.

im surprised they didn't make those nose piece plastic or composite like the GE's nose which could be unbolted and replaced if need be. But im guessing there's substantial damage behind that nose skin then what we see.

The nose got squished. I guess the crew was high and dry.
These units don't have doors in the nose. Sixty years ago a fireman on the Illinois Central Champaign division told me that when they'd hit a gasoline truck with their E units, the front doors would open and the fire would come in the cab.
I don't know if this unit derailed, but that's always a possibility in a collision.

What's the 6001 hitting a truck story? Is that on RR.net?

sullivan1985 wrote:When it comes to speed and other comparisons, the 6001 hitting the truck at little falls was much worse. Everybody walked away from that one too. While I wouldn't want to be in a cab car to hit anything bigger than a deer, so far all the cabs that have been leading have performed as expected when it cones to the structure of the car.

That was ugly. My friends daughter was on the school bus that was at the crossing. She got a phone call from her terrified kid who, along with her classmates, watched the whole thing go down

Gonna go out on a limb here and say that it looks like the cab module and structure behind the nose may have damage requiring an extensive front end rebuild & replacement of cab module... If it was any worse, I think it woulda been immediately written off. That's just my take on it. Hopefully it gets fixed & put back into service ASAP.

Just a sidenote, the 4020 was the first engine of its class to be used in revenue service on NJT.

Things do not get repaired like they used to anymore. You have to understand once anything with CEM (Crash Energy Managment) has expended itself to save the occupants, its job is over. Forever. They have already disposed of at least one of the new Rotem Metrolink cab cars from hitting dump trucks and cement mixers because the cars did what they were designed to do. The FRA has the final say if the unit is unfit for service after a collision.

Repairs might be delayed due to insurance issues. If an insurance company is going to pay out one often can't begin any work until all the related adjustments and/or liability issues are resolved.

ApproachMedium wrote:Things do not get repaired like they used to anymore. You have to understand once anything with CEM (Crash Energy Managment) has expended itself to save the occupants, its job is over. Forever. They have already disposed of at least one of the new Rotem Metrolink cab cars from hitting dump trucks and cement mixers because the cars did what they were designed to do. The FRA has the final say if the unit is unfit for service after a collision.

I think I owe some people an "I told you so". That's exactly the problem when you use vehicle designs from places that invest heavily in track, signaling and grade crossing infrastructure to prevent vehicle damage in a system where such damage is a cost of doing business. Let road vehicles be responsible for management of the crash energy. No amount of lawsuit awards are going to be able to restart production lines for replacement railcars over their 30-40 year lifespans. Can you imagine if Amtrak had to write off its Genesis units after each was involved in a grade crossing accident? With 2-3 such accidents per year I doubt they would have enough to cover their service needs.

Jersey_Mike wrote:Repairs might be delayed due to insurance issues. If an insurance company is going to pay out one often can't begin any work until all the related adjustments and/or liability issues are resolved.

it took them well over a year to determine that the 4027 with its creased rear body was OK to be put back in revenue service and that the damage to its body did not compromise its monocoque frame. And no repair work was done to that.

Now, when 4020 comes into the shop, it's to have a part removed to keep the rest of the fleet running.

ApproachMedium wrote:The FRA has the final say if the unit is unfit for service after a collision

Ah, if only we had the federal government to micromanage for us lowly citizens in this manner too when it comes to automobile accidents. No wonder passenger railroading's costs keep climbing.

One of the anonymous comments on that photo is amusing:

Internally (the PL42AC has) got a 16-710, essentially a cowl carbody passenger GP60 with lots of foreign electronics

Summary presumption, completely based on the prime mover. Apparently not enough of the locomotive is Prima Alstom in that commenter's view; it is really a GP60PH of some sort.