On October 14, 2022, about 9:21 p.m. local time, Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) train Westbound #1 struck and killed two subcontractor employees from JPC Group, Inc. on Main Track 2 on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Camden, New Jersey. The train was traveling west at 33 mph and had a train operator and 68 passengers aboard; 8 passengers were in the lead car. At the time of the accident, conditions were dark and clear, and the temperature was 59°F.
Main Track 2 was scheduled to be placed out of service at 9:30 p.m. for a crew of contractor and subcontractor employees to put new caulking on columns on a bridge near the track’s third rail. [1] Skanska Koch, Inc. is the contractor and JPC Group, Inc. is the subcontractor for this long-term construction project on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. This was the crew’s third night of work at that site. Two of the subcontractor employees entered a close-clearance area on Main Track 2 before the track was out of service, and PATCO train Westbound #1 entered their work area too.[2] Upon identification of the subcontractor employees on the track, the train’s operator initiated emergency braking before striking them. The train’s head end stopped about 100 feet (1.5 railcar lengths) west of where the two subcontractor employees were struck.
[1] The third rail is an additional electric current rail used in some railroad systems to supply power to trains.
[2] PATCO defines a close-clearance area as an area where there is no space for a person and a train at the same time. These areas require authorization from the dispatcher to occupy.
We determined that the probable cause of the accident was the subcontractor employees being on the right-of-way on Main Track 2 before track outage had been established. Contributing to the accident was the exclusion of right-of-way information from the preshift job briefing, despite it being required under Port Authority Transit Corporation’s Right-of-Way Safety Plan.
