Feds slam New York's Metro-North rail line for poor safety

[mahatmakanejeeves]

There's already an article in the New York group about this: Federal Review: Metro-North ‘Routinely’ Put On-Time Performance Ahead Of Safety. I'm cross-posting here, as a Federal regulatory agency is involved. Commerce clause, Administrative Procedure Act*, and all that.

Feds slam New York's Metro-North rail line for poor safety

By Michael Muskal
March 14, 2014, 10:02 a.m.

The Metro-North Railroad, where at least five passengers and employees have been killed in less than a year, is plagued by shortfalls in safety operation, a stinging federal report said on Friday.

The report, released by the Federal Railroad Administration after its 60-day review of procedures, castigated the commuter line for ineffective training, poor supervision of tracks and a dangerous emphasis on on-time performance over safety and maintenance. The line primarily serves suburbs north of New York City, including in Connecticut.

"Metro-North must never compromise safety in the interests of the reliability of its train schedule or the efficiency in its railroad operations," the report said.

The federal review was prompted by a Dec. 1 derailment in the Bronx that killed four passengers and injured about 70 others.

Operation Deep Dive Metro-North Commuter Railroad Safety Assessment

In 2013, four high-profile accidents occurred on Metro-North (Appendix 1).

• On May 17, 2013, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, an accident occurred on Metro-North’s New Haven Line, when an eastbound Metro-North train of 8 cars, traveling 74 mph, derailed and came to rest on an adjacent track. Approximately 20 seconds later, a westbound Metro-North train on that adjacent track struck the derailed train. As a result of the accident, more than 50 people, some seriously injured, were hospitalized, rail operations were suspended, and millions in property damage occurred.

• On May 28, 2013, a second accident occurred when a Metro-North train in West Haven, Connecticut, that was traveling 70 mph, struck and killed a Metro-North maintenance-of way (MOW) employee who was part of a roadway work group performing railroad maintenance on a construction project.

• On July 18, 2013, a third accident occurred when a CSX Transportation freight train derailed while traveling over Metro-North’s system. No one was injured, but property damage was significant.

• On December 1, 2013, the fourth accident occurred when a Metro-North train of 7 cars traveling south from Poughkeepsie, New York, to Grand Central Terminal in New York City, derailed as it approached the Spuyten Duyvil Station. All cars derailed and the front cab came to rest close to the Harlem River. Four passengers were killed, and more than 70 were injured. Rail operations were suspended, and millions of dollars in property damage alone was sustained.

* Administrative Procedure Act

Historical background

Beginning in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Congress enacted several statutes that created new federal agencies as part of the New Deal legislative plan, designed to deliver the United States from the social and economic hardship of the Great Depression. However, following the Great Depression and World War II the Congress became concerned about the expanding powers that federal agencies possessed, resulting in the enactment of the APA to regulate and standardize federal agency procedures.

In a law journal article on the history of the APA, Professor George Shepard discusses the contentious political environment from which the APA was born. Shepard claims that Roosevelt’s opponents and supporters fought over passage of the APA "in a pitched political battle for the life of the New Deal" itself. Shepard does note, however, that a legislative balance was struck with the APA, expressing "the nation's decision to permit extensive government, but to avoid dictatorship and central planning."