Yesterday morning and afternoon (9/25) sure sounded fun.
https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2024/09/25/A/51
Amtrak #51 broke its pantographs near Rahway at 7:15AM... a few interesting radio things I recorded...
6:56AM - #3818 inspected pantograph at Metropark and reported chips in the carbon strip on the rear pantograph. Engineer reported the last pantograph inspection at Metuchen so it seemed like they only made a determination at Metropark after taking another look.
(#3818 departs Trenton at 6:11AM so I doubt this is related to anything else but it was 20 minutes before everything else)
6:59AM - #3708 told to inspect catenary Metuchen - Metropark
I believe #3710 comes in as X375 (employee deadhead from NY - scheduled arrival at County/Jersey Ave at 7:01AM)
X375 passes Union at 6:25AM by schedule, however extra NJ Transit trains have unpredictable schedule adherence and are often padded.
7:00AM - #3710 to NJT County mechanical - car 1516 "middle of the train" is dead
7:10AM - #3710 ready off the branch, 12 multiple units (Jersey Ave)
7:14AM - #3708 reports no exceptions to catenary
The above information is speculatively relevant. I don't ultimately know if it's related but it seems interesting, especially with X375-#3710.
7:15AM - Amtrak #51 tries contacting CETC-9 (2 or 3 times)
7:15:45AM - Amtrak #51 reports broken pantograph alarm coming through Union track 3 (Rahway)
7:17:00AM - Amtrak #51 reports train stopped (can't hear location)
7:17:30AM - #3708 ordered to stop
7:18AM - #3708 told to inspect catenary on track 3 (from 1)
7:19AM - #51 reports pantograph ripped in half
7:22AM - #51 reports other pantograph broken and says they're just east of Roads
7:22:30AM - NJT #3505 reports "something on track 3 hanging below the contact wire around 18.75"
7:27AM - X377 ordered to operate AMT-2 2.601 between Elmora and Iselin
7:26AM - X377 to rescue passengers from #51 track 3 to 4
7:44AM - KN720 (daily, morning maintenance train from Adams Yard) is ready to depart / "[interference] you're [who?] not going to be doing the passenger transfer off of 51"
7:45AM - KN720 will be rescuing #51 but will be held until ET (Electric Traction) approval (although they left a minute later anyway)
7:59AM - Passenger transfer complete
I don't care to sort the rest of radio communications as I was only interested how it started. I'm not trying to analyze the delay itself unless someone is curious.
So was this actually another Arrow III disaster but nobody realized it? I wonder why #3710 had a "dead car" and whether X375 is the same trainset coming in. Pantograph damage (by rule?) is supposed to be followed up by some sort of lookback into the territory which the train had covered and into all trains that had previously traveled through there. I don't think #3710 reported pantograph damage.
https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2024/09/25/A/133
Amtrak 133 derailed leaving Track 10 at Penn Station - transitdocs states it departed 1:57PM (sourced from Amtrak data) and a location point also appeared at 3:50PM in Sunnyside. I have no idea why there's a location point in New Jersey when the train shouldn't have gotten that far.