Background
Spuyten Duyvil is a neighborhood of 10279 people (as of 2011) in the far north of New York City (USA), located in New York state on the east coast of the USA, 15km/9mi north of downtown New York City and 21km/13mi south-southwest of White Plains (both measurements in linear distance).
Spuyten Duyvil lies on the Hudson Line, a mostly double-tracked partially electrified commuter rail line connecting New York City’s Grand Central Terminal with Poughkeepsie on 119km/74mi of track, serving 29 stations. Opening in sections between 1849 and 1851 and being partially electrified via third rail (similar to what many underground metros use) in 1906. Nowadays express trains running the entirety of the line use hybrid locomotives which can run with power from both onboard diesel engines and the third rail electrification, while electric trains have to turn back when reaching Croton-on-Hudson from the south. Services are operated by Metro-North Railroad, a government-owned commuter train service provider.
The train involved
Train number 8808 was a regional express passenger service from Poughkeepsie to New York Central Station, departing its origin station at 5:54am. It consisted of seven Bombardier-made Shoreliner IV passenger cars including a cab-car (number 6222) at the southern end of the train. Introduced in 1996 as a minor evolution of the Mark III each Mark IV car measures 25.91m/85ft in length and can carry up to 130 passengers. The train cars are designed to go as fast as 193kph/120mph but are limited to 145kph/90mph in service. On the day of the accident the train consisted of cars carrying a mixture of Metro North (blue window band) and Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT, red window band) liveries.
Cab cars are a special kind of passenger car with a more or less complete driver’s cabin installed at one end, at the price of reduced seating capacity. The type allows the train driver to remotely control the locomotive at the other end of the train, meaning trains can change direction without the need to move the locomotive from one end of the train to the other. Metro North runs trains on the Hudson Line as so-called push-pull trains with a cab car at the southern end of the train, since this reduces the noise caused by the locomotive when reaching the underground platform at Grand Central Terminal.
On the day of the accident two passenger cars in the train were closed to passengers and used for “deadheading”, a term referring to shuttling employees and/or rolling stock without earning money from it. In total the train carried 115 passengers, three conductors and a driver at the time of the accident.
The train was pushed on its southbound journey by a General Electric P32AC-DM “Genesis”-locomotive, a four-axle hybrid passenger train locomotive introduced in 1992. Each “Genesis”-type hybrid locomotive measures 21.03m/69ft in length at a weight of 124.5 metric tons, while non-hybrid units come in at 121.6 metric tons. The hybrid version’s main power supply is a turbocharged four-stroke V12 diesel engine producing 2400kW/3200hp, which is fed into a generator to provide electricity for the traction motors. The motors can also receive power from the trackside third rail (a system similar to a slot car’s power supply), which allows them to enter the tunnels below New York City where diesel emissions are prohibited. The hybrid version can reach as much as 177kph/110mph in diesel mode and 97kph/60mph in electric mode, giving it both the highest and lowest top speed of the Genesis-series.
The accident
On the 1st of December 2013 Train number 8808 departs Poughkeepsie on schedule at 5:54am under the command of Mister Rockefeller, who had been with the company for 15 years and had 10 years of experience as a train driver. In addition to the driver and the regular passengers the train was carrying six off-duty employees along with two conductors, Mister Hermann and his assistant Miss Herbert.
The train uneventfully covered its six stops on the northern part of the Hudson Line before picking up a third conductor, Mister Kelly, at Croton-Harmon station. Mister Hermann eventually sent Mister Kelly to one of the deadhead-cars as he decided the low passenger number didn’t require three conductors, and joined him there to fill out paperwork after the train had departed Tarrytown 22.7km/14.1mi ahead of Spuyten Duyvil. Guidelines required one conductor to join the driver in the cab for the final section of the line, so Miss Herbert moved to the front of the train to enter the driver’s cab after Harlem-125th Street station.
The train continued along the eastern bank of the Hudson River on a quad-tracked section of the line, travelling at approximately 80kph/50mph. The straight section ends in a left hand turn immediately ahead of Spuyten Duyvil station, moving from the bank of the Hudson River to that of the Harlem River Ship Canal. The turn had a 48kph/30mph speed limit, requiring Rockefeller to start decelerating 2.4km/1.5mi south of Riverdale station, up to which point trains were intended to obey a 112.5kph/70mph speed limit. On the day of the accident he neglected to do so, approaching the turn at speed with full throttle applied.
Mister Rockefeller triggered an emergency stop at 7:19am, travelling at 132kph/82mph, but the train was already entering the turn and derailed to the right a moment later, before the emergency stop could have any effect on the speed. The train split apart behind car 4, with the forward cars overturning to the right (cars 1–3) and left (car 4) respectively. Several windows shattered or detached whole as the cars slid along on their sides, with the cab car mowing through a brush-covered area and coming to a halt just a few inches from the Harlem River Ship Canal. 3 people were completely ejected through the window-openings, with several more suffering partial ejections and/or injuries from soil and debris entering the train cars. The rear cars also derailed but remained aligned with the tracks, with only the rear car and the pushing locomotive falling over. 4 passengers, among them the 3 who were fully ejected, died in the accident, with 61 people suffering injuries.
Aftermath
Moments after the train came to a rest Mister Hermann, despite suffering a head-injury when he was thrown against the wall, reported the accident to the dispatch center to get the emergency response underway. Up front Mister Rockefeller emerged from his cab uninjured and rendered first aid to Miss Herbert, choosing to remain with her until responders arrived as he could see Mister Kelley and Hermann taking charge of the survivors.
Within a few minutes 125 firefighters and several ambulance crews reached the site of the derailment, accessing the wreckage from Spuyten Duyvil station approximately 50m/164ft from the center of the wreckage. The response was halted for a few minutes as arriving responders had to wait for confirmation that the high-voltage third rail was shut off. Survivors who didn’t require immediate hospitalization or extended on-site care were taken to a resource center set up at a nearby High School until it could be confirmed that no more passengers were in the wreckage.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) examined the wreckage on-site a few hours after the accident, noting how the cars had maintained structural integrity but those who fell over had lost most of their windows, leading to full and partial ejections with fatal results (3 of the 4 victims were found outside the train, one was partially ejected before ending up back inside). By the evening of the following day all cars had been retracked and towed to a maintenance facilty to allow repairs to the rail line while the cars were further examined. Recovery workers also drained 3400l/900us gal of diesel from the locomotive before sending it to the yard also, where it was similarly impounded by the NTSB. The closure of the line had wrought havoc on both commuter services and stranded countless people returning to NYC after the Thanksgiving Holiday, so repairing the tracks was of a high priority. Repairs were conducted in around-the-clock work, allowing limited service by the 4th of December.
The derailment was Metro North’s first ever accident involving passenger fatalities and its first accident involving any fatalities since a 1988 collision at Mount Vernon had killed a crew member. It was also New York City’s deadliest train accident since a 1991 subway derailment had claimed five lives. Investigators found that the train had been in perfect working order ahead of the derailment, but its brakes were only applied immediately ahead of the turn, fully applying 5 seconds after the leading car entered the turn. As such focus shifted to Mister Rockefeller, who was told to hand over his cell phone along with samples for drug and alcohol checks. The checks came back negative and the phone was not in use during or immediately prior to the accident. Mister Hermann also explained to investigators that he had known Mister Rockefeller for a long time, and that he was an unproblematic driver with a “very smooth” style of train driving, which made it unlikely that Mister Rockefeller had disregarded the speed limit on purpose, especially since the train had been barely behind schedule.
Mister Rockefeller did admit to investigators that he had felt “dazed” ahead of the derailment, regaining full awareness and control of his body right ahead of the turn which was when he triggered the emergency stop in a desperate attempt to slow the train down. The investigation found that he had recently switched from the afternoon- to the morning-shift, which required him to leave his home at 3:30am. However, his rest-hours were unaffected by this switch, with Mister Rockefeller being able to prove that he had gone to bed by 8:30pm the previous day. In early April 2014 investigators revealed that Mister Rockefeller had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea after the accident, which was a consequence of his obesity. The disorder is characterized by repeated partial obstruction of the upper airway while sleeping, leading to phases of reduced or absent breathing. This results in reduced blood oxygen saturation and sleep disruptions, which drastically reduces the regenerative effect of sleeping. Unfortunately, those affected by it often don’t know they have the disorder, as even waking up from it isn’t distinct enough to figure it out by oneself.
The NTSB concluded that the recent switch from afternoon to morning shifts had escalated the effects of Mister Rockefeller’s then-undiagnosed disorder, causing him to be tired/fatigued on duty as the sleep he got immediately prior to heading to work was not as restful as intended. This made him susceptible to a form of so-called white line fever (also referred to as “Highway Hypnosis” as it mostly happens to truckers/long distance drivers), a phenomenon where a repetitive pattern in the surroundings (road markings, telephone poles, railway sleepers) cause a dazed mental state where limited operation of the vehicle occurs subconsciously, often without the driver noticing anything wrong until they feel themself “snapping out” of “something”. In some cases drivers also don’t remember stretches of time spent in the altered mental state at all, seeing themselves suddenly “appear” somewhere with no recollection of how they got there. In the case of Mister Rockefeller the subconscious control of the train was enough to keep the train moving and regularly operate the dead man’s switch, a button or pedal that has to be pressed and released at intervals to prove the driver is still conscious/in control. But it wasn’t enough to remember the point where he should have started decelerating.
The accident restarted the discussion about implementing positive train control (PTC), a system which could have autonomously slowed the train down ahead of the turn. The federal railroad administration had mandated implementation of the system on all US rail lines by 2015 following the 2008 train collision at Chatsworth (previously featured on this blog) which had claimed 25 lives after a train driver missed a red signal. The mandate had been met with harsh backlash from rail operators, complaining about cost and/or doubting that the system was useful at all. Among those complaining was Metro North, who demanded an expansion of the deadline to 2018. After the derailment at Spuyten Duyvil US Representative Sean P. Maloney, a local resident whose neighbor was among the victims, introduced legislation to make low-interest loans available to rail service providers who want to implement PTC. Officials from Metro North denied that money was the issue, pointing out that they had budgeted 2/3 of the 900 Million USD cost already, instead calling the usefulness of the system into question as it was supposedly “untested and unproven” for commuter rail systems and their complexity. They eventually agreed to install the system, with the deadline shifted to 2020. The installation finished on schedule, meeting the 2020 deadline.
4 days after the accident the New York Times reported that the train had been equipped with an “alerter”, a system which sounds an alarm if the train exceeds the speed limit for 25 seconds and cuts traction power if no decelerating action is taken within the following 15 seconds. However, the system was only fitted to the cab of the locomotive, not that in the cab-car, which put the alarm out of earshot and meant the automatic disabling of the motors was not operational as the locomotive was remotely controlled at the time of the accident.
On the 8th of December 2013 a reporter interviewed passengers waiting at Poughkeepsie for the restarted service, explaining the basics of train safety to them. One woman reacted quite surprised that there was no fail-safe in place, saying:
“I really thought they had that in place. This is the United States.”
And she had a point, it is somewhat surprising that a place as advanced and with as big a rail network as the USA didn’t have something like PTC in place on most to all of their network.
After the accident the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) ordered Metro-North to equip all cab-cars with the alterter-system and extend its usage across their whole network. They were also forced to have two drivers in the cab whenever the speed limit drops by more than 32kph/20mph. In response the Metro North installed new speed restrictions ahead of the turn, making it several separate reductions of less than 32kph/20mph each. “Operation Deep Dive” was ordered following this, a full safety-review of the Metro North by independent railway safety experts. The resulting report was released to the US Congress in March 2014, attesting the Metro North a “deficient safety culture”, with special attention paid to an overemphasis on on-time performance, an ineffective internal safety management and an ineffective training program. Metro North was told to submit a plan to address these issues within 60 days. They were also criticized heavily by the NTSB for failing to routinely screen safety-sensitive employees for sleep disorders, with criticism also aimed at the FRA for not requiring railroads to do so.
The local district attorney considered criminal charges against Mister Rockefeller before, in May 2015, announcing that he would not be charged for his role in the accident. There was no criminal fault to be found in his behavior, as he couldn’t know about his sleeping disorder and wasn’t acting negligent by any other means (like cellphone usage, alcohol consumption or knowingly speeding). Simply feeling “a bit dazed” while driving a vehicle is not illegal. Comparisons were made to a 2012 case where a bus driver had crashed after knowingly driving without adequate sleep, claiming 15 lives. He had been charged, but was acquitted of all charges except for operating a vehicle without the required license.
Miss Smith, a surviving passenger who lost her sister in the derailment, agreed with the decision to not put Mister Rockefeller on trial, saying it spared survivors the stress of having to go through the events again and that she felt like Mister Rockefeller was “in a way, in jail forever” as he has to live with what happened to the train under his command. This aligns with a statement by Mister Rockefeller’s lawyer, who explained that his client was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the accident.
It is worth noting that, despite several news-articles claiming otherwise, Mister Rockefeller NEVER fell asleep inside the train. He was awake the whole time, just in a dissociative state. Had he been fully asleep he would not have been able to give the control-input he provided. In a tragic irony, that likely would have brought the train to an automatic stop, meaning actually sleeping would have sounded worse but been safer.
The cab-car and one other passenger car from the train were sent to the scrapyard after the accident, the rest of the train was repaired and returned to service at some point. Metro North currently (March 2023) still maintains a fleet of over two dozen Genesis-type hybrid locomotives, but signed a contract with Siemens in 2020 to purchase at least 27 hybrid locomotives based on the Siemens Charger-series which will completely replace the Genesis-units on the Hudson Line. The Shoreliner-type passenger cars however, despite being criticized for losing their windows in the accident, have no retirement-date in sight.
History repeats itself — Twice
In September 2016 a commuter train service ran out of control and crashed through the buffer stop at Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey (USA), claiming the life of a bystander who was struck by debris. A few months later, in January 2017, a different commuter train did the exact same thing at the Atlantic Terminal in New York City (USA), injuring 108 people. Both accidents were also traced to excessive fatigue due to undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea, the same condition Mister Rockefeller had suffered from. The NTSB thus, again, strongly recommended that the FRA should make it mandatory to check safety-sensitive employees (such as train drivers) for such conditions. NJ Transit, the company involved in the 2016 accident, had relied on doctors who get suspicious referring their patients for a diagnosis, which means some weren’t, perhaps due to personal sympathy. This system, the NTSB argued, should be replaced by referrals by a centralized committee with no personal connection to the patients.
It was also found that Hoboken station was not equipped with PTC, having been granted an exception from the mandatory installation. The report lists it as one of 35 dead-end passenger stations in the USA which were exempt from having to install PTC, which could keep trains from overrunning the end of the tracks.
The 2016 derailment at Hoboken station was covered extensively in this earlier installment of the series.
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A kind reader has started posting the installments on reddit for me, I cannot interact with you there but I will read the feedback and corrections. You can find the post right here.
