Metro-North, LIRR to install freight-train monitoring equipment

MTA Metro-North Railroad and MTA Long Island Rail Road plan to install monitoring equipment designed to detect defective or overheated wheels and loads of freight trains that operate on publicly owned track and convey that information in real time to the railroads' control centers.

The train fault detector system will help improve safety, reduce wear and tear of the tracks, and identify faults before they cause problems, said Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast in a press release.

The system consists of three components: a wheel impact detector that recognizes flat spots and other wheel defects; a "hot box" detector that ensures all roller bearings around axles are operating properly and not overheating; and a tag reader that identifies individual freight cars.

The railroads are seeking a vendor to design, manufacture, deliver and integrate these components to provide real-time reporting to the railroads' control centers.

Metro-North intends to install the system east of Green's Farms Station on the New Haven Line and south of Scarborough on the Hudson Line. Freight trains enter the Hudson Line from the south at Highbridge Yard in the Bronx and from the north at Poughkeepsie. Freight trains enter the New Haven line from the south at New Rochelle and from the north at New Haven.

The LIRR system will be installed on the Main Line west of Bellerose Station. Freight trains, including those operated by New York and Atlantic Railroad and CSX Transportation, enter LIRR tracks at Long Island City and Fresh Pond in Queens and at Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. These installations are in addition to fault detection improvements on CSX property that CSX agreed to in August 2013 following a freight derailment at Spuyten Duyvil last summer, MTA officials said.