Metro North Railroad comes in for some harsh criticism in a report issued this week by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about five accidents involving the company’s trains that occurred within less than a year.
Six fatalities, 126 injuries within 11-month period
October 29, 2014
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says it identified several recurring safety issues in its investigation of recent five Metro-North accidents. Among them: inadequate and ineffective track inspection and maintenance, extensive deferred maintenance issues, inadequate safety oversight, and deficiencies in passenger car crashworthiness, roadway worker protection procedures and organizational safety culture.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the May 28, 2013 train/truck collision, 15-car derailment, and subsequent explosion in Rosedale, Md. was caused by the truck driver’s failure to ensure that the tracks were clear before traversing an un-gated highway-rail grade crossing. Contributing to the accident was the truck driver’s distraction due to a phone conversation on a hands-free device at the time of the crash.
Dozens of residents in Saskatchewan, Canada were evacuated yesterday after a train carrying hazardous materials derailed, spilling petroleum distillate and bursting into flames. Petroleum distillates are used in diesel, kerosene, heating oil and jet fuel.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday issued a special investigation report on the recent increase in deaths of railroad and rail transit roadway workers on or near tracks and made recommendations to reduce the number of fatalities.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that a derailment at Paulsboro Bridge in New Jersey, which resulted in a hazardous material release occurred because Consolidated Rail Corporation rules allowed the train to proceed past a red signal onto a movable bridge without the rail slide locks being fully engaged.
Canadian Pacific Railroad cars derailed Monday in Albany
May 16, 2014
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Commissioner Joan McDonald said the Department will issue the maximum fine allowed under state law to Canadian Pacific Railroad for failing to report, as required, the derailment of four tank cars carrying crude oil early Monday morning in Albany.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Wednesday announced its intention to issue a proposed rule requiring two-person train crews on crude oil trains and establishing minimum crew size standards for most main line freight and passenger rail operations.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators said the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line station at O'Hare International Airport will not be up and running until this afternoon at the earliest, after a train jumped the tracks early Monday, injuring 32 people.
Railroad co. involved in derailments has “deficient safety culture”
March 17, 2014
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).