NJ Transit workers believe an unknown driver tried to beat a train at Walnut Street and smacked a railroad crossing gate, causing it to fly into overhead wires and fry the intersection’s rail control system.
As of 7:45 p.m. Monday evening, workers were still at the scene rectifying the situation.
The blowout caused a section of Walnut Street, between Greenwood Avenue and Grove Street, to be shut down for several hours.
The incident occurred at about 12:30 p.m. today as a train headed westbound, said NJ Transit Manager and Division Engineer Tim Purcell.
About $6,000 worth of damage will likely come out of the NJ Transit maintenance budget, since the suspected driver was not found, Purcell said.
The damage to the signal system did not affect the Montclair-Boonton Rail Line and trains continued to operate on or close to schedule, a NJ Transit police officer said.
NJ Transit crews worked all day re-wiring the signal system inside the nearby control bungalow and replacing melted wires.
A portion of the 32-foot-long crossing gate that was apparently hit also was replaced. It had flown into the catenary wires, which are suspended about 30 feet above ground and feed 25,000 volts of power to passing trains.
The main gate control system was fried, blowing out all power mechanisms in the crossing gates, said Cherie Fernandez, NJ Transit lead signal maintainer.
The controls that detect oncoming trains were also destroyed.
"Everything got burned up," Fernandez told The Times. "We have technicians in there trying to re-wire everything."
Conductors stepped off the trains before approaching the inoperative crossing gates, and they walked their trains through the Walnut Street rail crossing as a precaution, police said.
Contact Tanya Drobness at drobness@montclairtimes.com.
