An engineer driving a Staten Island Railway train that derailed Dec. 26 may have fallen asleep at the switch, multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation told the Advance.
The accident, which happened at the Tottenville station around 6:30 a.m. the day after Christmas, involved a train that was being brought into service for the morning. The engineer and a conductor were the only two people on board at the time, and neither was injured.
Sources familiar with the investigation speculate the engineer may have made a partial stop at the beginning of the station, as required, but then began driving again, suggesting the engineer may have nodded off momentarily.
Transit officials would not comment on the incident while the investigation is underway, and refused to name either employee involved, though they are employed by a public authority.
The engineer has been suspended without pay pending the completion of a full investigation, which will look at all possible contributing factors, including mechanical problems and the condition of the rails at the time of the crash. The investigation could take a month or more, a New York City Transit spokesman said. The conductor remains on the job.
After hitting the steel "bumper block" at the end of the tracks at Tottenville, the first car of the train continued over the block and past the end of the rails, before coming to rest on a slight angle feet from the rocky shore of the Arthur Kill. The dented car's front window blew out after the train rubbed up against the concrete station platform just on the other side of a metal wall. It is not yet known how much it will cost to repair the damage.
Both the engineer and conductor aboard were tested for drugs and alcohol following the accident. The results have not yet been released, but intoxication doesn't appear to be a factor, sources said, and the investigation is not of a criminal nature. The engineer has an otherwise unblemished record, a source said.
A spokeswoman did say that the standard procedure for approaching the end of the line at either Tottenville or St. George requires engineers to stop their trains at the beginning of a station platform, and then approach the stop marker at a speed of 5 miles-per-hour or less.
The accident had the potential to be much worse. Prior to the installation of a new $100 million signal system in 2005, there were no safety measures in place to prevent a train full of passengers traveling at full speed from ignoring a signal to stop and running off the track and into the water.
The new technology, which includes 30 miles of fiber-optic cables laid underground, limits the maximum attainable speed at certain points along the 14-mile track, including at sharp curves, and at both ends of the line.
Sources said the system caps the maximum speed allowed at the end of the tracks to about 15 miles-per-hour, designed to override an engineer if they approach too fast.
Data logged by a "black box" type of device on board the train is being reviewed as part of the investigation.