Train engineer says the brakes did not respond when he applied them at a sharp curve.
–The Poughkeepsie train station, which is normally jammed with commuters, was desolate Monday morning as riders sought alternate transportation into New York City because of Sunday’s deadly train derailment that left a critical stretch of commuter rail impassable.
The station, from which the ill-fated train had left, still had plenty of parking available at 6:45 a.m. Monday, the Poughkeepsie Journal reports.
Four people were killed and more than 60 people were injured when the Metro-North train jumped the track on the Hudson Line just north of the Spuyten Duyvil station about 7:20 a.m.
The locomotive and seven cars jumped the tracks, throwing many passengers through the windows as the cars tumbled to the water’s edge where the Harlem River meets the Hudson River.
“I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times,” said Joel Zaritsky, 50, of LaGrange. “Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train.”
Metropolitan Transport Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan said Monday that cranes are in the process of hoisting the tilted Metro-North car that was connected to the locomotive back on the track. The locomotive already was righted.
Although the authority warned commuters to expect crowded trains on Monday morning, it also provided shuttle buses which appeared to be easing the congestion. Donovan said no major delays were reported during the early part of the rush hour.
Metro-North, which normally carries 26,000 weekday riders, began running bus service on Sunday for stranded passengers, allowing them to take a bus from Tarrytown, on the Hudson Line, to White Plains, where they could pick up a Harlem Line train headed to New York City…
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Source:USA TODAY
