Metro-North Railroad – whose train derailment in the Bronx in December killed four passengers and injured approximately 70 others – made being on time a higher priority than being safe, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

The report was the result of a comprehensive safety assessment of the railroad known as Operation Deep Dive.

Reduced safety on the system

FRA found that Metro-North’s management “emphasizes on-time performance to the detriment of safe operations and adequate maintenance of its infrastructure, resulting in a deficient safety culture, increased risk and reduced safety on the Metro-North system.”

The report requires Metro-North to submit plans to FRA within 60 days on how it will improve the effectiveness of its safety department and training programs.      

A wake-up call

The assessment “should serve as a wake-up call to Metro-North as they work to make their operations safer,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.  “Efficiency and on-time performance are important, but they cannot come before the safety of every passenger on board or those communities along the system.”

 The report instructs Metro-North to take the following actions to mitigate risk and to begin a turnaround of the railroad’s safety culture:

• Effective immediately, Metro-North’s senior leadership must put safety front and center, and communicate and implement that priority throughout its organization.  
• Within 60 days, Metro-North shall submit to FRA a plan to improve its Safety Department’s mission and effectiveness, including providing appropriate in-person monitoring of field activities and personnel. 
• Within 60 days, Metro-North shall submit to FRA a plan to improve its employee training, ensuring that it develops and implements an effective training program for all operating departments. 

The assessment directs Metro-North to address twenty-five (25) specific recommendations covering eight (8) safety critical concerns identified by FRA.  These include:

• Track safety standards
• Railroad operating rules
• Certification requirements for locomotive engineers and conductors
• Safety training for roadway workers and employees who maintain rolling stock
• Train control systems
• Operations Control Center
• Fatigue management for maintenance-of-way employees     

Four serious accidents in 2013

The Bronx derailment was only one of four 2013 incidents cited in the report. The others were a derailment in Bridgeport, Conn., that injured more than 50 people; an accident in West Haven, Conn., that killed a Metro-North worker and a freight train derailment in June in New York City.

 Review the entire report on Metro-North.