Schumer presses MTA to implement safety technology faster on LIRR, Metro-North lines

Brooklyn, Queens lines directly impacted

December 13, 2018 By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is attacking the MTA for its delays in installing new safety technology. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

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Federal regulations have prompted MTA to begin installing Positive Train Control safety technology on its Long Island Rail Road commuter lines — some of which traverse Brooklyn and Queens — and on Metro-North. However, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and the MTA disagree about what deadline applies for the technology’s final rollout.

Schumer is attacking the transit agency for “announcing another two-year extension to fully implement PTC,” although MTA says it’s entitled to another two years under Federal Railroad Administration rules. “MetroNorth and the LIRR have met all federal PTC requirements for 2018,” MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said in a statement.

“Nationwide, we are in line with the majority of our peer commuter railroads’ PTC implementation timelines. We expect to complete our system-wide roll-out in advance of the two additional years we’ve qualified for under FRA rules,” said Donovan.

However, Schumer, also in a statement, called on the LIRR and Metro-North to “move heaven and earth” and fully install PTC technology as soon as possible.

“Despite PTC having been recommended by safety experts and required by law for nearly a decade, LIRR and Metro-North still may not meet the [latest] 2018 Congressional-mandated deadline for implementation of PTC technology,” Schumer added.

Originally, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required the implementation of PTC by December 2015, but during the Obama administration Congress passed a law extending that deadline to the end of 2018.

“According to the December 2018 LIRR and Metro-North board materials, the railroads have installed just 86 percent and 84 percent, respectively, of the hardware required for its PTC system,” said Schumer in the news release.

A spokesperson for Schumer told the Brooklyn Eagle that this month is the fifth anniversary of Metro-North’s Spuyten Duyvil crash in the Bronx. In that incident, a motorman who was rounding a curve at three times the allowed speed derailed a train, killing four passengers and injuring 61. A medical exam revealed that he suffered from sleep apnea and dozed off at the helm of the train.

“People living in all the boroughs should be able to rely on the MTA,” the spokesperson said. He added that PTC would stop over-speeding trains, whether the motorman suffers from such a condition or the train’s equipment fails.

Under PTC, specialized equipment on board usually stores information about sections of track in the system. The equipment constantly calculates the train’s current speed in relation to the desired speed in that area. If the train is speeding and there is a risk that the motorman won’t slow it down, the mechanism automatically applies the brakes.

While the Spuyten Duyvil accident was the worst local commuter train mishap in recent times, Brooklyn and Queens have both seen their share of train accidents.

In January 2017, a train smashed through a barrier at the LIRR’s Brooklyn terminal at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, injuring more than 100 people.

In August 2018, an LIRR train derailed in Long Island City just after it emerged from the railroad’s East River tunnel. No serious injuries were reported, but the first axle and front two wheels of the train came off the tracks.

In July 2015, two passenger trains going in opposite directions sideswiped each other just west of Jamaica. The LIRR later found that one engineer didn’t obey a stop signal. No injuries were reported.

Also, what may have been the worst commuter train crash in the city’s history occurred when two trains collided on the LIRR’s main line between the Kew Gardens and Jamaica stations. After an engineer disregarded a “Go Slow” signal, the trains ran into each other, killing 78 people and injuring 363.