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 railroad’s 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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