RE: (erielack) wheel falls off car in Suffern

[Michael Sheehy <njnyrr_@_optonline.net>]

NJ Transit wheel falls off; public finds out a week later
By GREG CLARY

(Original publication: June 30, 2004)
[PARA][PARA][PARA][NL][NL].NJ Transit wheel falls off; public finds out a
week later
There's an old question that asks whether a tree falling in the forest when
no one is around actually makes a sound.
A more recent version might be, if a wheel falls off a commuter train when
no passengers are on it, is that an event worthy of the public being
informed?
Apparently not, to the people running NJ Transit.
NJ Transit officials had one of their trains lose a wheel in Suffern on June
17, on the way to a nearby overnight storage yard.
What's the problem? A train has a bunch of other wheels, right? Well,
apparently it's important enough that the Federal Railroad Administration
was called in and is testing the bearings and other parts of the wheel in a
laboratory to find out if there's a systemic problem or if this was an
isolated incident.
No results on any of that yet, an FRA spokesman yesterday, but Metro-North
officials are watching the entire matter carefully because they're
responsible for New York rail passengers in and out of Rockland County and
contract that function to NJ Transit.
So there is concern, except among commuters, the people who actually might
be in a train traveling at 50 mph if and when another wheel comes off. Few
knew about it.
NJ Transit didn't deem this incident important enough to advise commuters of
what happened. The railroad drops leaflets on seats for a minor schedule
change, but nothing was distributed about the wheel falling off a train
running between Hoboken and Suffern. Getting There tried twice to get NJ
Transit to give its side of the issue yesterday, but those two telephone
calls were not returned.
The railroad let the story out a week after the incident, but the spin was
on how officials were working to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
The focus of the news as the railroad saw it was a systemwide inspection of
other rail wheels, especially since this was the second incident in a year.
When was the last time Metro-North had a wheel fall off one of its trains?
How about not in the past two decades?
"Metro-North had experienced problems with the M2 cars in the early 1980s,"
said Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for the railroad. "They had a design
with hollow axles and we had an overheating of the bearings. We replaced all
those axles once we determined that the design was poor."
Anders said Metro-North has been "in continuous contact" with NJ Transit on
the wheel incident. "They are as concerned as we are about getting to the
root of this," Anders said. "We hope it's an isolated incident, but if it
isn't we're going to ensure that corrective action is taken."
Warren Flatau, the FRA's spokesman, said it's not clear yet whether there's
a maintenance problem or some other oversight failure, but that should be
part of the final report that is still being completed.
Neither rail official said he or she thought the public needed to be
informed in such a circumstance, but riders were less certain.
"It's not surprising that they didn't let anyone know," said Richard Simon,
an Airmont resident who connects to Hoboken from the Suffern station. "It's
not the sort of thing they would advertise."
Jason Naggiar said he and a co-worker were talking about train accidents
this week when the subject of the wheel came up.
"That's kind of freaky," the Suffern resident said. "It concerns me a
little."
Kathy Granger, a Warwick resident who rides the line regularly to her job at
New York University, wasn't surprised at the railroad's silence.
"The equipment's horrible," Granger said. "We're late a lot. Cars don't have
air conditioning and you can't open a window, so there's no air."
Granger said there have often been mechanical problems on the trains she
takes, noting that not so long ago, she had to board a train that was
already doubly full because it picked up passengers from a train that had
broken down ahead of it.
"I was writing a log for a while, but my friends told me to forget about it
because nothing would be done anyway," Granger said. "They're the only game
in town, so it's not surprising that nobody heard about the wheel. For those
who did, they probably just thought, 'That's typical.'

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