page_title: Fairfield train crash
section_title: Investigation
hierarchical_section_title: Fairfield train crash / Investigation
caption_attribution_description: NTSB investigators identify and meet with parties to its investigations of the Metro North train accident in Connecticut.
context_page_description: The Fairfield/Bridgeport train crash occurred on May 17, 2013, when a Metro-North Railroad passenger train derailed between the Fairfield Metro and Bridgeport stations in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the United States. The derailed train fouled the adjacent line and a train heading in the opposite direction then collided with it. There were at 65 injured among the approximately 250 people on board each of the two trains. Metro-North reported damages at $18.5 million.
context_section_description: An investigation was opened by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). A broken rail was under initial investigation as a potential cause of the accident, although it may also have been damaged during the accident sequence. The NTSB sent a portion of the track to a laboratory for analysis of a fracture and foul play was ruled out. The total investigation may take up to ten days. About 2,000 feet (610 m) of track was damaged, along with wires and signals.
  An inspection two days before the crash revealed vertical movement of the track system around an insulated rail joint due to insufficient ballast. Metro North said that this problem was deemed not serious enough to require immediate repair. In April, a cracked joint bar was repaired in the same area of track.
  The final NTSB report was issued on October 28, 2014. It states that the cause was broken compromise joint bars (used to join two different sizes of rail). The joint bars, in this case, were found to have fractured and broken causing the rail joint to break completely and causing the derailment. It was also discovered that inspections of the area had noticed in the days before the accident that there was insufficient ballast under the joint area causing the joint to flex repeatedly as well as an excessive mismatch in railhead height. This combination caused the failure from fatigue cracking.
  The report also points out that Metro-North's inspection procedures were somewhat insufficient, in that inspections were performed from a hi-rail vehicle traveling on a center track, while the inspectors had to examine four tracks at once. From the inspector's point of view, they would be unable to see all parts of the track due to distance issues. There were also issues with inspections being rushed to prevent delaying trains and deferred maintenance.
caption: NTSB investigation team meets with experts in Fairfield
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