WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Dec. 6 issued an Emergency Order (EO 29) to Metro-North Commuter Railroad (MNCW) to take specific, immediate steps to ensure its train crews do not exceed speed limitations. The EO requ [...]
U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) has proposed the Commuter Rail Passenger Safety Act to help commuter railroads, such as MTA Metro-North Railroad, fund and implement positive train control (PTC) systems. Maloney announced he would introduce the legislation earlier this [...]
NEW YORK – It’s sometimes called “highway hypnosis” or “white-line fever,” and it’s familiar to anyone who has ever driven long distances along a monotonous route. Drivers are lulled into a semitrance state and reach their destination with [...]
The Metro-North Railroad train that derailed on Sunday included a system designed to warn an operator of a potential accident. But such an “alerter,” which can automatically apply the brakes if an operator is unresponsive, was not in the cab where William Rockefeller apparent [...]
When a train derails and people die, as happened Dec. 1 in New York, there are going to be lots of questions. Eventually, there will be answers to most. But will anyone be able to answer this question: How much are the lives of train passengers worth? On Dec. 2, as investigat [...]
WASHINGTON — A New York congressman is proposing legislation aimed at preventing another accident like Sunday’s fatal Metro-North derailment in the Bronx. The proposal from Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney of Cold Spring would help Metro-North and other commuter rail systems appl [...]
YONKERS, N.Y. – The revelation that a New York City commuter train derailed while barreling into a sharp curve at nearly three times the speed limit is fueling questions about whether automated crash-avoidance technology could have prevented the carnage. Safety officials have [...]
The Federal Railroad Administration Nov. 29 announced a new final rule intended to further help with the evacuation of passengers and crewmembers in the event of a rail emergency. Among the provisions, the rule requires that vestibule and interior passageway doors on passenge [...]
Investigators are looking at speed as a contributing factor to what may have caused a Grand Central-bound Metro-North train to derail while rounding a curve in the Bronx on Sunday, Dec. 1, sending train cars down a slope toward the Harlem River and throwing passengers out win [...]
Seven people were killed in separate railroad accidents Sunday, Dec. 1, in New York and New Mexico. Three employees of the Southwest Railroad in New Mexico died when when the train’s locomotive plunged 40 feet into a ravine. In suburban New York City, a Metro-North comm [...]
SMART Union