NJ Transit head: Phone use, other violations unacceptable

A dozen positions in NJ Transit’s system safety office, formed two years ago, have gone unfilled. The agency has seen its maintenance staffing and spending drop as trains continue to break down at higher rates than other commuter rail systems, and it’s been slow to replace managers who’ve retired or moved to other agencies.

“New Jersey Transit is at a critical juncture, and we have issues to address,” Santoro testified. “First and foremost is the safety of our customers and employees. There’s no substitute for it, no alternative to it and no way around it. It is the priority.”

Santoro told lawmakers NJ Transit has adequate funding to cover escalating costs from a new labour contract and a new agreement to operate on the Northeast Corridor. The agency is paying Amtrak $64 million this year to operate on the tracks from Trenton to New York City. That’ll increase to $73 million for next year and $104 million in five years, Santoro said.

A project to install the sophisticated safety technology known as positive-train control is fully funded and on schedule to meet a December 2018 installation deadline. The agency is awaiting federal approval to acquire a slice of radio spectrum required for the system and has scheduled testing for next year on a 6-mile stretch of the Morris and Essex Line.

But other major capital expenditures loom, including new railcars to replace aging models and increase capacity, and the replacement of the 106-year-old Portal Bridge, a chokepoint on the Northeast Corridor near Secaucus.

Still, Santoro pledged NJ Transit wouldn’t hike fares for at least year.

The 16-year NJ Transit veteran was appointed to run the agency after the Sept. 29 Hoboken crash. One woman was killed more than 100 people were injured when a packed train going twice the 10 mph speed limit slammed into a bumping post at Hoboken Terminal.

Santoro said the agency would look into whether positive-train control technology should be installed at Hoboken Terminal or if other technology could be used to automatically stop trains at the end of the tracks. Federal regulators have granted the agency a positive-train control exception for the station.

After the crash, NJ Transit lowered the speed limit to 5 mph and ordered conductors to stand with engineers and act as a second set of eyes.

According to federal data, NJ Transit trains break down about every 85,000 miles, compared to more than 200,000 miles for the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad that serve suburban New York City commuters.

An Associated Press analysis of federal safety data from January 2011 through July 2016 found NJ Transit trains have been involved in 157 accidents since the start of 2011, three times as many as the largest commuter railroad, the Long Island Rail Road.

Richard Hammer, the chairman of NJ Transit’s board of directors, quibbled at an earlier hearing that NJ Transit has gotten more scrutiny from federal regulators than other railroads because it counts all incidents and accidents and not just those required to be reported by federal guidelines.

All of the incidents reviewed by the AP appeared to meet federal reporting criteria. Santoro said Friday “there’s no questioning the data” used in the AP’s analysis.

Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

NJ Transit head: Phone use, other violations unacceptable

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