On May 28, 2013 at 11:57 a.m. eastern daylight time, Metro-North Railroad (Metro-North) passenger train 1559, which was traveling westbound at 70 mph on the New Haven Line main track 1, struck and killed a track foreman in West Haven, Connecticut. The accident location was about 100 feet west of catenary bridge 1021 at milepost 69.56.
We determines that the probable cause of this accident was the student rail traffic controller ’s removal (while working without direct supervision) of signal blocking protection for the track segment occupied by the track foreman and the failure of Metro-North to use any redundant feature to prevent this single point failure Contributing to the accident was the Federal Railroad Administration’s failure to require redundant signal protection, as recommended by Safety Recommendation R-08-6.
We made recommendations to Metro-North and the Federal Railroad Adminsitration.
