Newark Bay, New Jersey rail accident
| Date | September 15, 1958 |
|---|---|
| Time | 9:01 am EDT |
| Location | Newark Bay, Bayonne, New Jersey |
| Country | United States |
| Rail line | Central Railroad of New Jersey main line |
| Operator | Central Railroad of New Jersey |
| Type of incident | Derailment into water |
| Cause | Signal passed at danger |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Deaths | 48 |
| Injuries | 48 |
The Newark Bay rail accident occurred on September 15, 1958 in Newark Bay, New Jersey. A Central Railroad of New Jersey (CRRNJ) morning commuter train, #3314, ran through a restrictive and a stop signal, derailed, and slid off the open Newark Bay lift bridge. Both diesel locomotives and the first two coaches plunged into Newark Bay and sank immediately, killing 48 people. A third coach, snagged by its rear truck (bogie), hung precariously off the lift bridge for two hours before it also toppled into the water. As the locomotive crew was killed, the cause of the accident was never determined, and was never reinvestigated.
There were three signals spaced at three-quarters of a mile, a quarter of a mile, and 500 feet (150 m) from the draw bridge, and an automatic derailing device fifty feet beyond the third signal. The bridge span had to be down and locked electrically before the signals and derail devices could be cleared for movement on the track. Conversely, all the devices had to be in their most restrictive positions before the bridge could be unlocked and raised. The train ran through two signals and was derailed automatically; the automatic derailer was designed to knock the wheels off the track so that the resistance of the ties and ballast against the train's wheels would bring a slow-moving derailed train to a stop. Train #3314, although derailed, was moving at such a great speed that it did not have sufficient distance to stop before diving off the bridge.
The Interstate Commerce Commission, the New Jersey Public Utilities Commission, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers each conducted separate inquiries into the wreck, and all three found that the absence of a "dead man's control" was one primary cause of the accident. After the inquiries, the New Jersey Public Utilities Commission ordered the railroads to install such devices on all passenger locomotives operating in New Jersey. Some Jersey Central locomotives were equipped already with such devices, but this did not include the engine leading CNJ train #3314 on the day of the wreck. The railroad claimed that such a device was not always necessary, because all their trains had two crewmen in the locomotive cab. If the engineer was incapacitated somehow, the fireman would assume control of the locomotive.
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