2016 Hoboken train crash
| Industry | Public transportation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Headquarters | Newark, New Jersey , United States |
Area served | New Jersey, New York metropolitan area |
| Products | Commuter rail, bus, light rail services |
| Website | www |
On September 29, 2016, a commuter train operated by NJ Transit collided at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey. This incident took place during the busy morning commute at one of the New York metropolitan area's most frequented transit centers. The crash resulted in one fatality and left 114 individuals injured, including the train operator who was positioned in the cab car.
Background
As the third-largest commuter railroad in the United States, NJ Transit had not experienced a fatal accident since the 1996 Secaucus train collision prior to this event.
Beginning in June 2016, the Federal Railroad Administration initiated an audit of NJ Transit due to an increase in safety violations, which led to several federal citations.
Crash
Train #1614 of the Pascack Valley Line departed Spring Valley station at 7:23 a.m. EDT on September 29, 2016, heading towards Hoboken. At approximately 8:45 a.m., it failed to stop at the bumper block inside Hoboken Terminal, crashing through the rail concourse and halting against a wall near the passenger waiting area. The front cab car (#6036) sustained significant structural damage.
Eyewitness accounts indicated that the train "did not reduce speed" as it entered the terminal at its final stop.
The train was not equipped with positive train control (PTC), an automatic braking system designed to slow trains if operators do not act. Whether PTC could have averted this accident remains uncertain.
Train #1614 consisted of four NJ Transit Comet V coaches, including cab car #6036, and one NJT GP40PH-2B locomotive (#4214). It was operating as a local service on the Pascack Valley Line, stopping at all stations. The cab car led while locomotive #4214 pushed from behind.
Casualties
One person lost their life and over 114 were injured due to the crash. The Jersey City Medical Center treated 66 patients and discharged 53 by the next afternoon. The Hoboken University Medical Center cared for 23 individuals, while Christ Hospital treated one patient; all but two had been released by evening.
The only fatality was a woman on the platform struck by falling debris: attorney Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, aged 34, originally from Brazil and residing in Hoboken. The majority of those injured were passengers aboard the train.
Impact
The collision inflicted extensive structural damage on Hoboken Terminal, including collapsed portions of both the station roof and train shed, with water spraying from damaged areas.
Rail operations to and from Hoboken station, including PATH, were suspended temporarily. Alternative transportation such as local buses and ferries accepted NJ Transit tickets, and Metro-North Railroad also honored them. PATH service paused due to concerns over potential roof collapse but resumed by day’s end alongside Hudson-Bergen Light Rail. Rail delays persisted in the region into the following week.
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) initiated an inquiry and sent an NTSB "go team" to investigate the scene. The Federal Railroad Administration also deployed investigators. Despite injuries, the train engineer cooperated fully and participated in interviews with the conductor; he reported no recollection of the event and stated he felt rested with no mechanical problems observed before departure.
A primary element of the NTSB investigation was determining if positive train control technology might have prevented this accident. One of two recovered train event recorders (black boxes) was immediately found but rendered unusable; the second was recovered in early October 2016.
On October 4, 2016, FEMA clarified that during nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) tests, a television station in Utica, New York, WKTV, mistakenly aired unusual messages from Green Eggs and Ham. This coincidental occurrence prompted an independent review by Snopes, which confirmed FEMA was not connected to the crash.
The wrecked train was removed from Hoboken Terminal on October 6 for detailed examination.
In November 2016, attorney Jack Arsenault disclosed that engineer Thomas Gallagher suffered from undiagnosed severe sleep apnea, a condition that NJ Transit screens for but had overlooked despite Gallagher passing a physical examination in July 2016 clearing him for duty. Gallagher had 18 years of experience but had no memory of the crash and was found lying on the cab floor after impact. Investigators considered sleep apnea as a potential factor contributing to this accident.
Cause
On February 6, 2018, the NTSB identified the primary cause of the accident as the engineer's inability to halt the train, attributed to fatigue resulting from undiagnosed sleep apnea. NJ Transit faced criticism for failing to follow its established sleep apnea screening procedures aimed at detecting employees at risk and directing them toward treatment. Additionally, the agency did not acknowledge collisions at the end of tracks as a potential hazard despite previous occurrences. The FRA was also criticized for not requiring mandatory sleep disorder screenings for railroad personnel in safety-sensitive positions.
The FRA had granted NJ Transit an exemption from installing positive train control (PTC) at Hoboken Terminal. However, the NTSB noted that PTC by itself would not have prevented collisions at terminal ends and highlighted the necessity for supplementary technological measures. The original steel-and-concrete bumpers at Hoboken Terminal, dating back to 1907, were designed only to withstand low-speed impacts and lacked contemporary shock-absorbing capabilities that might have lessened the severity of the crash.
Aftermath
In response to the accident, NJ Transit introduced new safety protocols, including requiring engineers to be accompanied by an additional crew member when entering Hoboken Station and lowering the approach speed limit from 10 mph to 5 mph. Partial reopening of Hoboken Terminal occurred on October 10, 2016, with limited track availability and adjusted service schedules; full operations resumed by October 17, except for tracks 5 and 6, which remained closed for ongoing repairs.
The pedestrian concourse reopened in May 2017; track 6 returned to service in June 2017, while track 5 became operational around September 2018. Plans for permanent restoration of the concourse roof and supporting structures were announced, with NJ Transit stating in February 2019 that renovations would commence in March and take approximately one year. By April 2019, NJ Transit confirmed that all repair work would be finalized by the end of that year, a deadline they successfully achieved.
Similar incidents
An analogous accident occurred at Hoboken Terminal in December 1985, resulting in injuries to 54 individuals. This earlier crash was reportedly caused by lubricant applied to the rails during train wheel testing. Another event at Hoboken in May 2011 involved a PATH train failing to stop before the platform's end, striking a bumper block and injuring 32 passengers.
On January 4, 2017, a Long Island Rail Road commuter train collided at Atlantic Terminal, causing injuries to approximately 100 people. This incident was also associated with sleep apnea, suspected as a contributing factor similar to the 2016 Hoboken crash. The December 2013 derailment near Spuyten Duyvil was likewise linked to sleep apnea.
See also
Other train accidents involving engineers with sleep-related disorders:
- 2008 Massachusetts train collision, where a trolley crash was posthumously attributed to the engineer’s undiagnosed sleep apnea
- Bourne End rail crash, a British incident possibly caused by an engineer’s loss of focus due to sleep problems
- Redondo Junction train wreck, the deadliest rail disaster in Los Angeles history; the engineer reported experiencing "blacking out" prior to the accident