Does Metro-North Have a Catastrophic Curve?

[marmar]

(WNYC) Sunday's deadly Metro-North commuter train crash happened less than 2,000 feet from the the site of another derailment earlier this year along the same stretch of curving riverside track in the southern Bronx.

The Spuyten Duyvil section of track is considered a "slow zone" by the Metropolitan Transit Agency because of the tight curves, two of which come in quick succession flanked by the river on one side and steep rocks on the other.

In July a CSX fright train carrying tons of garbage toppled over in a ravine close to where the rail right-of-way narrows from four tracks to two, which limited re-railing and recovery efforts. You can see a close up of the site of that crash as seen from Google Maps in our previous post. It's just where the large Columbia University 'C' is painted on the rocky cliffs. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.wnyc.org/story/does-metro-north-have-catastrophic-curve/

[FarCenter]

1. The curve has been there since Cornelius Vanderbilt laid tracks in 1871.

Trains of the Hudson River line reached the NY&H by means of a connecting track completed in 1871 along Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Harlem River.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Central_Railroad

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Permanent speed restrictions are in place

in locations like that.

Who knows what happened there today.