The engineer is gonna' be in deep s**t. Eighty two MPH? He claims the brakes failed. We'll see.

80 mph isn't unusual for trains, but obviously he should have braked for the curve earlier.

Track had 70mph limit from what I heard.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Oddly enough, we couldn't find anything better on TV last night ( and we DON'T have cable etc) so we watched an old flick "Falling in Love " with DeNiro/Streep..

Falling in Love (1984) - IMDb

and there is a scene in the movie when the train goes around THAT fateful curve...and it doesn't seem to be going 35 to me....spooky

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Very sad. Have a number and friends and family members who commute that way during the week.

Sure sounds like the engineer dropped the ball big time.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

speeding. I am SHOCKED!
brakes failed AFTER the 9 successful stops the train had already made. uh huh

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

If only we could get RID of some other antiquated safety standards while we're at it. The US has idiotically high crash strength standards for new rail cars, which is why we can't use a lot of more efficient and more stable overseas rail equipment, and why upgrading railcars in the US is 5x as expensive as everywhere else.

Anyway, Metro North is safe. One instance of passenger death. In. 30. Years. Try that with a bus line, a road, or even most airlines. Fix the problem if one exists, lock up the engineer if he's at fault, move on.

That guy better lawyer up. NOW!!

Heard on Morning Joe that they were planning to install some sort of fail safe braking mechanisms....in a couple of years.

Well, he applied the brakes five seconds before entering the curve, with the apparent hope of reducing his speed by 52 mph within those five seconds. Doable in something like a Ferrari California, so by those standards, the brakes did indeed fail...

The later the better, hopefully. I'd rather see spending on more public transit and better-maintained tracks than braking mechanisms designed for a one-in-a-billion event (apparently cost of positive train control rollout is something like $20-25 BILLION nationwide). Baby steps.

Bet more accidents are caused by maintenance (or lack thereof) than engineer error. Not to mention level crossings, which should be eliminated at busy roads.

Again: other than people being hit by trains, there has been ONE fatal Metro North accident in its 30-year history. I'd say that was a pretty damn good safety record. Why freak out about a safety problem when none exists?

Because we're Americans! It's what we do. We think of the children. Why do you hate America so much?

Won't somebody think of the children!?

MV

Ooops.

"I was in a daze"

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1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

Back in the day before reliable pocket watches train wrecks were big news, happened often and typically resulted in fatalities. Then too you had to deal with the exploding boilers on occasion.

Riding the train was a lot more exciting back then.

__________________
Jim

One of the reasons we have uniform time zones now as opposed to local solar time.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13