The operation lasted 5 hours after a woman was struck by a train traveling 135 mph
People board NJ Transit train 5903 to Plainfield in Newark Penn Station in this March 2010 photo.HAMILTON — When a 30-year-old woman ended her life by walking into the path of a train traveling nearly 135 mph during Tuesday’s evening rush, it set off a chain of events that led to delays of up to four hours and continuing explanations to commuters Wednesday.
The location of the crash at the busy Hamilton Station, the speed at which the collision occurred — making recovery of the body painstaking — and the time of the day made the response one of the most difficult in memory for emergency services workers.
"This was a very, very challenging incident, for us and for our customers," NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said.
In all, 30 Northeast Corridor trains, each carrying up to 1,500 passengers, were delayed, and some Hamilton and Princeton Junction commuters who traveled by way of Trenton arrived at their destinations up to four hours late. In addition, 10 trains were canceled and combined with others.
Trains rerouted, commuters eventually arrived to rail stations where platforms were so full they could barely get off.
"There were people on this train who had to stand for over three hours," said commuter Tom Calabria, whose trip from Manhattan to West Windsor usually takes around an hour, but on Tuesday took more than four hours.
Calabria said his train left Manhattan at 6:03 p.m. and he didn’t arrive home until 10:15.
NJ Transit, on e-mail alerts to 15,000 Northeast Corridor Line customers, apologized Wednesday for the delays and tried to give riders a better understanding of the events that can follow after a person is killed on the tracks.
At 4:45 p.m., a southbound Amtrak Acela Express train struck the woman, who was standing on the express track at the Hamilton Station. The impact of the high-speed crash hampered efforts to recover evidence, and all four tracks and both the eastbound and westbound platforms were closed.
Also, the body could not be moved until the medical examiner arrived and that took a little more than an hour, Stessel said. Northeast Corridor service was suspended in both directions between Jersey Avenue — just south of the New Brunswick station — and Trenton.
Calabria said communication on the trains was poor and, while he understood some delay was necessary, Tuesday’s was excessive.
"This is not Country Road 57 that’s closed down here, it’s the busiest rail corridor in the country," he said.
Stessel said police needed time to investigate and determine whether it was a crime scene.
But, Calabria said, it was obvious the woman, who was from Brooklyn, walked onto the tracks to kill herself.
A suicide note was quickly found.
"It’s not like you have to investigate a cause of death here — you know what happened," Calabria said.
At about 6 p.m., the two tracks normally used for eastbound service were reopened at a reduced speed, allowing NJ Transit and Amtrak to use one track in each direction while the two usual westbound tracks remained out of service, Stessel said.
"The fact that they were able to restore two tracks after an hour, given the circumstances, is pretty good," he said, adding he understood the frustration of commuters.
NJ Transit averages about two suicides a month — the technical term is "trespasser fatality" — on its tracks, Stessel said.
During any service disruption, managers from critical departments dial into an open conference line that enables them to share information and discuss in real time management of the incident, Stessel said.
On Tuesday, police gave information about the four tracks being shut down, rail workers gave information on the exact location of the incident and where other trains were at the time and NJ Transit’s customer service personnel were dispatched to stations to provide information to customers.
While the investigation continued, westbound trains had to travel to Trenton using what normally would be the eastbound express track, forcing them to bypass the Princeton Junction and Hamilton stations, Stessel said. Using low-level platforms at either station would have stopped rail traffic in both directions, resulting in greater delays, he said.
Hamilton and Princeton Junction customers were advised to travel to Trenton and return to their destinations on eastbound trains.
The "emergency recovery operation" lasted until about 9:30 p.m. — nearly five hours after the woman was struck.