Derailment and Collision of Metro-North Railroad Passenger Trains 1548 and 1581

Accident Reconstruction Animation
Derailment and Collision of Metro-North Railroad
Passenger Trains 1548 and 1581
Bridgeport, Connecticut
May 17, 2013
DCA13MR003
Investigative Hearing
This animated reconstruction shows the sequence of events that preceeded the derailment and collision of two Metro-North Railroad passenger trains. The accident occurred on May 17, 2013 at 6:01 pm local time, when eastbound train 1548 derailed at milepost 53.25 and was subsequently struck by westbound train 1581. Locomotive event recorder data was used to determine the position, speed and braking status of the two trains. Photographs were used to determine the final rest positions of the trains. The animation does not depict the weather or visibility conditions at the time of the accident. The animation includes audio with a voice over narration.
The animation begins with an overall map of the New Haven subdivision of the Metro-North Railroad. The point of derailment at milepost 53.25 is depicted as well as a photograph of a Metro-North train. The routes of the eastbound and westbound trains between Grand Central Terminal in New York and the New Haven-State Street station in New Haven Connecticut are shown. A three-dimensional animation then illustrates the installation of joint bars on the north rail of track number 4 at milepost 53.25. These joint bars were found broken and replaced 43 days before the accident. The next view is a map focused on the area between the Fairfield Metro station and the Bridgeport station, with the point of derailment in between those stations. A still image from the forward-facing video camera of a westbound Amtrak train is shown, highlighting the visibly broken joint bars on the north rail of track number 4 about 48 minutes before the accident occurred. The still image from the Amtrak video was sharpened to enhance the visibility of the broken joint bars. The positions and speeds of the eastbound and westbound trains are shown during their approach to milepost 53.25. The scene transitions to a closer-in view and steps through the sequence showing the eastbound train derailing at milepost 53.25 and the westbound train applying emergency braking. The final two illustrations show the positions of the two trains at the point of collision and at their final rest positions. The final illustration transitions to a photograph of the two trains at the accident scene.