The GP40PH-2B for Train Simulator is available in classic NJT livery and includes Comet IV commuter coaches and driveable Comet V Cab Car. NJT’s most recent and most advanced versions – the GP40PH-2B – was re-manufactured by Conrail in 1993 to 1994 and many of the units remain in active service today on NJT’s busier routes, such as the North Jersey Coast Line. One of the New York metropolitan area’s commuter goliaths, NJ Transit, inherited a fleet of 13 EMD-built GP40P diesels from the Central Railroad of New Jersey and then expanded that roster to 39 units with GP40s rebuilt for commuter service by Morrison-Knudsen and Conrail’s Altoona Shops.Įquipped with head-end power (HEP) to supply electricity to the commuter consists they haul and upgraded with EMD “Dash 2” technology, NJT’s GP40s carry GP40PH-2 and GP40PH-2B designations. The GP40 was designed to haul tonnage, and with four axles and a robust 3,000 horsepower, the locomotive was ideally suited for intermodal and fast freight duty, but a hallmark of EMD’s line of ‘Geeps’ had always been versatility, and the GP40 proved no exception.Īs either custom-built by EMD or re-manufactured, GP40s have served extensively in the United States and Canada as power for commuter trains. MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said the agency was “moving heaven and earth to make the Positive Train Control deadline by the end of 2018.”Īnd NJ Transit “continues to have every expectation that we will meet the federal implementation deadline,” spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said.The Electro-Motive GP40, introduced in 1965, has proven to be one of North America’s most versatile and successful locomotives, with more than 1,200 units constructed by 1972.
MTA board member Mitchell Pally blamed the delay on the limited number of companies manufacturing “this very complicated equipment,” which has to be custom-built for each railroad. “I don’t think they’re concerned about the commuters, they are worried about money,” said Russell, who has a pending $10 million suit over his injuries. Retired NYPD cop Eddie Russell, who survived the 2013 Bronx derailment, was outraged that Metro-North still isn’t using PTC on all trains. Over 100 people injured when LIRR train crashesĪmtrak has admitted that the system wasn’t activated on the speeding Washington state train that plunged off an overpass onto a busy interstate during an inaugural, high-speed run from Seattle to Portland Monday, killing three people and injuring more than 100.
31, 2015, but two months before the deadline it was extended for at least three years. Railroads were initially given until Dec. PTC is a GPS-based system that uses on-board electronics and transmissions from track-side signals and radio towers to automatically apply brakes if speeding trains are in danger of derailing or crashing.Ĭongress ordered PTC installation on major US rail lines following a 2008 Los Angeles train collision that killed 25 people, but federal lawmakers provided no funding, leaving railroads and their riders to foot the bill. NJ Transit, which is spending $320 million on PTC, has outfitted less than 6 percent of its 440 locomotives and none of its tracks.
The slow pace of the upgrades comes despite a low-cost, $967 million loan from the FRA more than two years ago to pay for the work. 4 when a train smashed into a bumper block at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal - has 49 percent of its 580 locomotives equipped with PTC, and just one of its 15 major track sections. The Long Island Rail Road - where more than 100 passengers were injured this past Jan. Metro-North - where in 2013 four riders were killed when a speeding train jumped the tracks in The Bronx - has installed automatic-braking devices in just 27 percent of its 531 engines and doesn’t have a single segment of track fully equipped with transmitters to activate them. Less than one-third of all locomotives operated by the MTA and NJ Transit have been outfitted with Positive Train Control systems mandated in 2008, according to data compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Deadly Amtrak derailment on Washington highway Commuter railroads serving the Big Apple face an uphill climb to meet next year’s deadline for installing anti-crash technology that could have prevented this week’s deadly derailment in Washington state, federal records show.