Personal Injury Law

TRAIN UNCOUPLES - STUNNING RIDERS

According to the New York Times, an eight-car East-bound train uncoupled, stunning riders, during evening rush hour earlier this month. The incident, confirmed by Dan Stessel, a spokesman for the New Jersey Transit was confirmed as having happened on February 22nd, and has drawn criticism from the conductor?s union. There were more than 600 shaken passengers on the train at the time of the uncoupling, and it took an hour for workers to reattach the cars. According to the Times, the train was moving approximately five miles an hour when steel couplers which connected the second and third cars separated, leaving them several feet from one another and a potential new york train accident risk. The brakes were immediately activated, and no injuries were reported.

Couplers resemble two hands palm to palm and it appears a piece of debris hit those coupled hands with enough force to cause them to separate, although the actual debris was not identified.

The New Jersey Transit authorities instructed the crew to divert all passengers to the next stop-Newark Liberty International Airport.

According to Patrick F. Reilly, the general chairman of the United Transportation Union, which represents the 1,100 conductors who work for New Jersey Transit, the decision to restart the train with passengers still aboard, was a bad one. Reilly commented that all passengers should have immediately been removed from the train and the train taken out-of-service. Passenger Rick Smith, a 37-year-old graphics designer said, ?We were just praying that we got to the next stop in one piece, without the train coming apart again.?

Full post as published by New York Injury Talk Blog on March 26, 2008 (boomark / email).