(NorthJersey.com published the following story by Daniel Sforza on July 15.)
SEACAUCUS, N.J. — An NJ Transit train lost a wheel and derailed in Secaucus on Monday just minutes after it was inspected — and cleared — for excessive heat buildup between the wheels and tracks.
There were no fatalities, but 13 of the 1,200 commuters were treated at hospitals for minor injuries. Thousands of other travelers endured a nightmarish morning rush, with extensive delays along the entire Northeast Corridor.
Two cars on Train 3920 to Manhattan skipped off the tracks just shy of crossing an overpass and just after track sensors indicated a problem serious enough to halt the train and have the crew do an inspection.
“They went out, did the test they were supposed to,” said state Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere. “Seemingly, everything was OK. Everything passed the test and they cranked it back up again.”
The train’s sixth and seventh cars derailed at 7:50 a.m. in a remote area on the Northeast Corridor tracks between the Hackensack River and the Secaucus Transfer Station, which is under construction.
The lead cars on the 12-car train had already traversed the overpass that crosses another set of tracks, but those cars did not derail.
“If the train had kept going any further, cars could have been leaning off a bridge,” said Mike Hickey, a passenger in one of the derailed cars.
By early afternoon, NJ Transit had righted the Arrow MU cars and moved them to the Meadowlands maintenance complex and went to work repairing the rails.
NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington said the agency inspected all 230 of its Arrow passenger cars before Monday’s evening rush and said, “We haven’t found any other difficulties with the equipment.”
The agency anticipated a “close to normal” evening commute and a normal morning commute today.
But things were far from normal on the 6:45 a.m. express from Trenton to New York City’s Penn Station on Monday.
Hickey, 22, was taking the train for the first time to a new job at Citibank.
When he left from Princeton Junction, he was excited about his new career in management. When he finally reached Manhattan, he was happy to have survived the commute.
Signal from sensor
For passengers, the first sign of trouble was when the train was halted for the on-rail inspection.
“The conductor came on and said there were technical difficulties,” Hickey said.
By that time, transit officials were aware of a potential issue with heat buildup on the tracks.
A track sensor in Edison, miles before the derailment, picked up excessive heat from the train as it passed and signaled the dispatch office.
Soon after, the train’s three-person crew was notified and the engineer, conductor, and assistant conductor stopped the train and inspected it, using a device called a temple stick. The crayon-like device melts when it’s rubbed against a surface hotter than 200 degrees.
The five- to 10-minute inspection came up clean, though, and the train resumed its trip.
But Dan Fobes of Yardley, Pa., who was sitting in the rear of one of the derailed cars, wasn’t convinced that everything was A-OK.
“The train … was definitely not functioning right,” he said. “You could hear something was wrong.”
Hickey didn’t sweat the stop until the ride got rockier.
“We were going along fine, then we felt a bump, nothing serious,” Hickey said. “But about 20 seconds after that, there was a jolt. Everyone kind of got very nervous. They jumped out of their seats to see what was wrong.”
Christian Spinillo, 23, of Hamilton said he heard a “loud bang.”
“It isn’t uncommon when you are taking the rails,” he said.
But then “the cars started rocking and the next thing you know there was lots of noise, things falling to the floor,” said Spinillo, who was also in one of the derailed cars. “It must have hit something or something broke. There was a little bit of panicking.”
Hickey was worried.
“The train was shaking violently,” he said “People were screaming, the lights went out in the car. The public address system wasn’t working.”
When the train came to a halt, Hickey’s car and the one behind it were derailed, listing to one side.
“A passenger in the car said nobody move because the train will tip over,” he said. “A couple of minutes later, a man came down, appeared to be the conductor, and led us off.”
Spinillo said no one was thrown from their seats, but those standing were jostled quite a bit. “There were people standing in the vestibule that were tossed around,” he said.
Fobes said some passengers created more problems by panicking.
“Some people panicked, but most were calm,” he said. “There were a handful of folks kicking out windows. They probably hurt themselves more doing that [than from falling when the car tipped.]”
Commuters in a daze
Some passengers walked from the train toward the Secaucus Transfer Station, which is still under construction.
Shortly after the derailment, a contractor working on the tracks watched as streams of dazed commuters headed his way.
“I saw a few hundred people,” said the worker, who didn’t give his name. “It’s funny. I was here in the last accident in 1996 and they were walking on the tracks. Stunned looking. The same way.”
Eventually, they were picked up by a “rescue train” sent to get the stranded commuters.
That same train then headed to the accident scene, where the other passengers boarded it around 9:45 a.m.
At Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, spokesman William C. Dauster said six of the injured were sent for X-rays and examinations. Four others were sent to Jersey City Medical Center’s trauma unit with bruises, cuts, and pain. Three others were taken to Christ Hospital of Jersey City with similar injuries, said Dauster.
None of the patients at any hospital suffered broken bones, and all were released later Monday, hospital officials said.
“Many couldn’t exactly identify where they were hurt,” said Dr. Bernard Reimer, an emergency room physician at Meadowlands Hospital. He said emotional trauma was among the most significant injuries.
Spinillo, Fobes, and Hickey didn’t suffer from that type of trauma, though. Each headed back home Monday afternoon, after a day of work, on the rails.
Bearing theory
Agency officials said Monday that it was too early to speculate on exactly what caused the wheel to come off. But there is a theory.
The wheel bearings could have seized, generating the “kind of heat that would cause the wheel to dislodge,” Warrington said.
“It’s an unusual occurrence,” he added. “It does happen occasionally. It’s conceivable the bearings would have frozen up, but we don’t know what would cause that to happen. It’s very premature to speculate.”
Lettiere said the track sensors are designed to pick up just that type of situation.
“The deal is, if you have a wheel that is locked and dragging, that will create a hot wheel and that should set off a detector,” he said. “That’s what they are going on.”
Warrington would not say whether the crew made a mistake in allowing the train to proceed after its inspection.
“In accordance with protocol, the crew physically inspected the train, and in our interview with the crew, they conformed with that protocol,” he said. “The entire incident is being thoroughly investigated, including interviewing all employees involved in the incident.”
Lettiere, chairman of the NJ Transit Board, promised “full disclosure” of the findings from the investigation, which will include a report from a metallurgist who will inspect the failed wheel, bearings, and undercarriage.
“This is going to be a full disclosure,” Lettiere said. “I’m not in the mood for anything else.”
The maximum speed for the train in that territory is 45 mph, but NJ Transit officials could not immediately say how fast the train was traveling.
Northeast Corridor Train 3920 was inspected on July 2, as part of its routine 180-day inspection that includes the body, wheels, and underside. Warrington said no problems were found.
Today, NJ Transit will continue to review tapes, computer records, dispatcher reports, and the radio conversations between the train’s engineer and NJ Transit.
“We’re looking at everything,” said NJ Transit spokeswoman Lynn Bowersox. “The focus of this investigation is primarily mechanical, but we’re not ruling out any possibility, including human error.”
NJ Transit has also been talking with Amtrak, which operates the Northeast Corridor tracks, but Warrington said that based on what officials know at this point, “We don’t believe there’s a basis for concern about track conditions.”
The Federal Railroad Administration is also investigating, NJ Transit officials said.
Secaucus has seen it share of derailments.
In February 1996, two NJ Transit commuter trains collided near a junction in the marshes at the Secaucus-Jersey City border during the morning rush hour. The wreck killed two engineers and a passenger and injured 162 people. An engineer failed to stop one of the trains at a red signal.
On Nov. 23, 1996, all 12 cars of an eastbound Amtrak passenger train derailed on the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River, sideswiping a westbound passenger train on an adjacent track. The accident, which occurred just south of Monday’s derailment, injured 44 people. Both locomotives of the derailed train, along with four other cars, landed in a gully below. Cracks on a key section of the bridge were blamed.
(Staff Writers Catherine Holahan, Merry Firschein, and Shannon Harrington contributed to this article.)