Federal Review: Metro-North ‘Routinely’ Put On-Time Performance Ahead Of Safety
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) Metro-North has allowed its emphasis on trains on-time performance to routinely overshadow its safety operations, according to a Federal Railroad Administration review.
Metro-North has emphasized on-time performance to the detriment of safe operations and adequate maintenance of its infrastructure, said the report released Friday. Metro-North must never compromise safety in the interests of the reliability of its train schedule or the efficiency in its railroad operations.
The inquiry was prompted by a Dec. 1 derailment in the Bronx that killed four passengers and injured about 70 others when the engineer approached a dangerous curve going 82 miles per hour. But it delves into a wide range of operations at the railroad, which serves New York and Connecticut.
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The report, called Operation Deep Dive, said employees reported pressure from the railroads operations control center to rush when responding to signal failures; workers had trouble getting needed track time to make essential repairs; and cellphone use by track workers appeared to be quite commonplace.
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