Amtrak to review maintenance practices following Penn Station derailments

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
image description
Repairs at New York Penn Station.
Amtrak

Amtrak has completed repairs to tracks at New York Penn Station following two derailments in the past month and the railroad's CEO has pledged a review of its maintenance practices to ensure the situation is not repeated.

Track issues on Amtrak-owned infrastructure were the reason for the March 24 and April 3 derailments.

“Based on our recent investigations, we can confirm that problems with our tracks in Penn Station were a cause of both recent derailments. With the March 24 Acela Express derailment, we had a mismatch between two pieces of rail that connected together in a curve, which created a step-like condition that contributed to a wheel of our Acela Express trainset derailing. This week’s NJ Transit derailment appears to have been caused by a wide gauge condition due to defective wood ties,” Amtrak President and CEO Wick Moorman said.

He continued, “I apologize to everyone who has been inconvenienced by the recent delays and cancellations at New York Penn Station. It’s our job to make sure that commuters and intercity passengers can safely and reliably travel along the Northeast Corridor and we know we let them down with these recent derailments. Our customers and partners deserve better.”

Moorman said the railroad has taken a number of steps to ensure there are no other track problems at the terminal. With the discovery of the misaligned rail, Amtrak forces surveyed all other sites at the station and found no similar misalignments were found. Moorman also said the railroad has changed its specs to eliminate the possibility of a mismatched condition. Amtrak will also assemble a team dedicated to address any maintenance deficiencies at Penn Station and will reprioritize its work and support of other projects to ensure the basic condition of the terminal.

“We have launched joint inspections with the Federal Railroad Administration to ensure that all aspects of our infrastructure at New York Penn Station are in good order. We will share the full results of these inspections with both [New Jersey] Transit and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) so that they understand what we’ve found,” said Moorman. “I am leading a comprehensive review of our maintenance practices and engineering department, including bringing in independent experts, to ensure we have the right processes and organization to maintain and improve our infrastructure.”

 

Tags: