(The Star-Ledger posted the following story by Wayne Woolley on its website on July 28.)
NEWARK — NJ Transit expects no disruptions to its commuter rail schedule today, although some trains may be one car short as the agency works to repair potentially faulty equipment in a segment of its fleet.
Weekend inspections of 230 Arrow III rail cars uncovered “potential defects” in the surge-protection equipment in 91 of them, all of which were removed from service, NJ Transit spokeswoman Lynn Bowersox said yesterday.
No problems were uncovered during inspections of the 139 remaining Arrow III cars, all of which were allowed to return to service, she said.
Despite the temporary loss of 91 cars, which represents 13 percent of NJ Transit’s total fleet, Bowersox expects a normal commute this morning.
“We have enough equipment to run a full schedule,” she said. “A 10-car train may become a nine-car train in some instances.”
The lines affected will be the Northeast Corridor and the Morris and Essex lines.
But, Bowersox said, the agency does not anticipate overcrowding because summer ridership is generally 15 percent to 20 percent lower than at peak.
Bowersox said the potentially faulty surge protectors, known as brush boxes, will be replaced at a rate of about six cars a day. In most cases, the agency has replacement parts in its inventory, she said.
The inspection of all of the Arrow III model cars was prompted by the failure Friday of a surge protector on a Northeast Corridor train.
Although the train did not derail, a sensor on the tracks indicated the possibility that one of its wheels was overheating on a run from New York Penn Station to Trenton. The train was halted in Hamilton. After a manual inspection determined one of the surge protectors had failed, the 66 passengers were transferred to another train.
The failure of the surge protector cast a new light on the investigation of the derailment of a Northeast Corridor train on July 14.
The derailment occurred along the Northeast Corridor in Secaucus when a wheel on an Arrow III car overheated and the train lurched off the tracks at the height of the morning rush. Twelve of the 1,200 passengers on board suffered minor injuries.
The conductor was faulted for improperly conducting a test during an emergency stop in Edison that would have uncovered excessive heat in the wheel before the train derailed.
Although the agency determined the derailment itself was caused by an overheated wheel, the failure of the surge protector on Friday has NJ Transit officials delving deeper into the cause of the derailment.
The preliminary determination was that the wheel overheated because flying debris damaged a rubber seal that kept lubricant around the wheel bearings.
The problems uncovered Friday has the agency considering the possibility that a failed surge protector caused the wheel of the derailed train to overheat, Bowersox said.
“When we found this issue with the brush box, we realized there may have been a link with a derailed train,” she said.
The investigation into the derailment, which includes a metallurgy study of the failed equipment, continues, Bowersox said.
The Arrow III cars, which represent nearly a third of NJ Transit’s passenger fleet of 711, were first put into service in 1976. The cars were overhauled in 1991.
Each car has four surge protectors, one for each axle.