Posted on 12/03/2013 9:09:57 AM PST by Hojczyk
MANHATTAN — Investigators believe the motorman at the controls in the deadly Metro-North Railroad derailment in the Bronx Sunday dozed off for a few fateful moments and woke up too late to stop the speeding train from hurtling off the tracks, DNAinfo New York has learned.
Veteran engineer William Rockefeller all but admitted he was falling asleep as the train came roaring to a curved section of track north of Spuyten Duyvil in statements made shortly after four people were killed and dozens were injured in the wreck, sources said.
He apparently woke up just as the train, traveling at 82 mph, was heading into a precarious curve that called for the train's speed to be reduced to just 30 mph.
As the train entered the curve, sources said, Rockefeller was jolted from his sleep and hit the brake, but not in time. The cars derailed, and several careened onto their sides before grinding to a halt on the edge of the Harlem River. Four people were killed, three of whom were thrown out of the cars, and more than 60 others were injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at dnainfo.com ...
If memory serves, this is similar to the Statin Island Ferry crash when the motorman was ‘dozing’. From alcohol I think.
Good they did the blood test just to be sure...
Maybe the line's maintenance isn't so good?
The problem with trains is you don’t have to steer.
Steering helps keep you awake in a road vehicle.
This is not a new problem.
I will say it was enjoyable watching yesterday’s presser that as soon as Shuck Chumer grabbed the mike, Fox went back to studio.
The lawyers who will be filing the wrongful death lawsuits just love to hear stuff like this.
It’s lawyers’ fault that government employees sleep on the job?
Waiting for the union to claim over worked / under paid engineers as the cause in 5...4...3...2...
I read he was doing 82 mph going into a 30 mph turn.
“Ridin’ that train, high on cocaine,
Casey Jones, you’d better watch your speed!”
If I don’t get enough sleep and then have to get up early, the time from about 7 to 8:30 AM is the absolute toughest for me to stay away and be functional.
With all the tech available there should be a way to limit the speeds especially around corners.
>>>The problem with trains is you don’t have to steer.
Steering helps keep you awake in a road vehicle.
This is not a new problem.<<<
We should be able to trust the ridiculously overpaid union members to stay awake.
But since we can’t, they ought to put some sort of system in where the enigneer is required to push some sort of button or combination of numbers every 30 seconds or so, just to prove he is awake and at the controls, or an extremely loud alarm goes off, while a video of him sleeping is recorded, to be used at his termination hearing.
They need rumble strips on those tracks to wake them up!
Apparently the good people of New York did not see fit to install the simple systems that would prevent such disasters.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg promptly announced that the crash was an accident, allaying fears of a public still stunned by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed a large number of Staten Island residents.A co-worker claimed to have seen the pilot asleep on duty, slumped over the controls. Two witnesses said the boat seemed to speed up just before the crash. The ferry's pilot, Richard Smith, attempted suicide by slitting his left wrist while still on the boat. He then slipped away so suddenly that he left his house keys. He was found shortly afterwards at home, having apparently broken in. Smith had again tried to kill himself, this time by shooting himself twice in the chest with a pellet gun, but survived this second suicide attempt.
It was later determined that Smith had lost consciousness while at the ship's controls. He had taken the painkillers tramadol and Tylenol PM, both of which can cause drowsiness as a side effect. The city rules required two pilots to be present during docking, but this rule had not been enforced by the management of the ferry service, and Smith had been alone in the pilot house. On August 4, 2004, Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison on January 10, 2006. New York's former city ferry director, Patrick Ryan, who had also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to a year and a day on similar charges.
The accident resulted in scores of lawsuits against the city. As of September 2008, the city had paid $54.3 million to the victims and their families, with other lawsuits pending.
Schumer is available for funerals and pool closings!
Schumer is available for funerals and pool closings!
In most modern locomotives, an "alerter" is used. This system, based on vigilance control works by alerting the engineer with a buzz or bell every few minutes or so. If the engineer does not push a button on the driver's console, the "alerter" system will automatically put the train into a penalty brake application (a full service application). To acknowledge the alert and thus prevent penalty brake application, the engineer reaches down to press the button and reset the system. Most major railroads in the United States and abroad use this system both in their freight and passenger operations. Older locomotives produced before 1995 do not carry this feature, but given the modular nature of the system it is not uncommon to find them retrofitted.
Schumer is available for funerals and pool closings!
But...but...what about the union jobs? Let's see, life saving automation which might impact human jobs, or...Human jobs.
Hmmm. Difficult decision.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.