Skanspar Wreck

## The Skanspar Wreck

Image taken at 51 Street just before derailment.(Source: Sora Opster)

## Incident Outline

**The Skanspar Wreck**, also known as the **57 Street Derailment,** occurred just before midnight on June 12, 2005, when a K Fifth Avenue Local train on the Potato City Subway's PID Fifth Avenue Line derailed as it was about to enter the 57 Street Station, killing 78 Passengers, including the motorman and conductor. It was the worst wreck on the subway since the 1915 Halsey Explosion.

## Before the Accident

The motorman assigned to operate the train, 28 Year old Ross R. Reyes, reported to the Halson Terminal station on the K route to begin his eight-hour shift at 10:50 p.m. on June 12, 2005, 15 minutes late. Despite visible signs that Ross should have been disqualified for duty that night, including bloodshot eyes and wearing tennis shoes, the dispatcher allowed Ross to go on-duty and assigned him a portable radio to use, Ross took control of a four-car R38 train along with conductor Dave Bergen, departing Halson Terminal at 10:56 p.m. making the last K trip for the day, almost 6 minutes late, and almost immediately, Ross overran the next stop, Intervale Square, by 2 cars, then Herald Square by almost the entire train, Bergen admonished Ross, but didn't pull the Emergency Brake, which would have required a complex restarting system which would've made Ross' condition apparent, or radio the PTA's command center about Ross' operation, as required by PTA regulations. As Ross's operation of the train became more and more erratic down the line, Bergen warned him multiple times about his operation but still didn't pull the Emergency Brake to stop the train.

## Accident

At 57th Street, local trains heading towards Union Turnpike have to switch over to the upper level to access the Lincoln Tunnel, while express trains heading for Waterside Boulevard switch to the lower level, the speed limit for the Northbound Switch is 90 SPS.

At 11:13 p.m., 17 minutes after leaving Halson Terminal, the K Train left the 51 Street station, where photographer and Announcer for the subway, Sora Opster would exit the train early and take a picture and video tape the train leaving the station, and only 45 seconds later, Ross' erratic operation of train finally led to disaster, as the train headed Northbound with approximately 200 passengers on-board, going at nearly 140 SPS, too fast for a tripcock to stop the train in time, derailed at the switch south of 57th Street. 78 passengers died, mostly in the first and second car, including Ross and Bergen, almost immediately, and 98 more were seriously injured, the wall before the station splitting the tracks was heavily damaged, which caused the Northbound platforms of both Levels to become unstable. It was the deadliest subway accident to happen since the Halsey Explosion of 1915.

The first car, #4080, was crushed in-between the wall and second car, #4081, shortening the car's length by 7 feet, #4081 would lift up and start folding into itself while pushing into 4080, the first half of 4081 would fold almost entirely into itself, the third and fourth car would receive minimum damage, the fourth receiving the least damage, Sora Opster, who was still at 51 Street waiting for another train, described the noise as "A Ear Grating screech of metal, stone, and screams".

## Rescue, and Investigation

Rescue Operation would begin quickly, the accident took place relatively close to the platform, however the instability of the platform from the crash required the southbound platform of the upper level to be used for escorting injured passengers and medical treatment being done at either the Mezzanine or on Street level, it took until around 2:11 a.m. for every passenger to be extracted from the train. In total, 106 Passengers and a few Emergency Responders injured during the rescue were taken to hospital, 78 passengers were injured seriously enough to be admitted, which almost put a hospital at maximum capacity.

An investigation was launched as soon as the rescue concluded, which found Ross was severely drunk after a night out, and fell asleep just before reaching the switch, and didn't wake up until the train hit the wall, the dispatcher, who allowed Ross to operate the train, was severely reprimanded for allowing Ross to operate and cause the accident.

## Aftermath

### Equipment, Infrastructure, and Service

After the accident, car #4080 was scrapped due to receiving the most amount of damage and in a state beyond repair, cars #4081, and #4090-4091, would be repaired and set back in service with #4081 being paired with the R38 involved with the 1974 Blokaway Shuttle Derailment.

The northbound platform was closed off until August 30, 2005, disabling Northbound access to Cadland.

B, D, and E service would be cut back to 47 Street-LaGuardia Airport with a few D trains continuing to 51 Street, K Trains were out of service. For service in Cadland, 2 Shuttle trains ran, running from 57 Street to 78 Street-Waterside Boulevard or 57 Street to Union Turnpike, terminating at 57 Street using the southbound and sometimes center tracks. 57th Street and 47th Street would get a temporary free out-of-system transfer.

## See Also

* Video of the departing R38 K Train taken by Sora Opster.