Staten Island Train Goes Off the Rails in Tottenville

2008_12_SIrail.jpgA car at the end of a commuter rail almost tried to make the leap for New Jersey when a Staten Island Railway train derailed at the end of its line as it approached Arthur Kill in Tottenville. No one was injured and New York City Transit is still investigating the cause of what led to the train going through the "bumper block" after its 40-minute trip from the ferry terminal at around 6:30 a.m. yesterday morning. That investigation requires that the crew of the train must all undergo mandatory drug and alcohol testing. Onlookers were surprised at just how close the train came to the narrow strip of water that separates the island from New Jersey. “Holy smokes, you have to be going pretty fast to go this far,” one commuter remarked to the Times. This was the first deraliment since last year for the Staten Island, which began running in 1860—over 40 years before the subway's arrival.

Email This Entry


Comments (5) [rss]

Free unless you get off at St. George, where they charge you $2 to exit.

Back in the pre-MetroCard days, you had to pay the conductor who issued you a receipt, much like you would get on Metro-North/the LIRR/NJ Transit when you pay cash. The odd thing is that the Staten Island Railway uses R44 subway cars and when they have to do heavy maintenance on them, they have to be trucked to the Coney Island Shops. Ironically, the 4th Avenue BMT subway had provisions to link in with the Staten Island Railway, but the legend goes that some of them were destroyed by Robert Moses when the built the V-N Bridge.

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

That's the lamest thing I've ever seen on eBay :( I'll just go down to my local trophy shop and hav
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS

Follow us