The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced its findings and recommendations from an intensive 60-day comprehensive safety assessment of Metro-North Commuter Railroad.  The assessment, known as Operation Deep Dive, found that Metro-North’s management emphasizes on-time performance to the detriment of safe operations and adequate maintenance of its infrastructure, resulting in a deficient safety culture, increased risk and reduced safety on the Metro-North system. The report requires Metro-North to submit plans to FRA within 60-days on how it will improve the effectiveness of its Safety Department and training programs.      

“Safety is our top priority, and this in-depth assessment should serve as a wake-up call to Metro-North as they work to make their operations safer,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.  “Efficiency and on-time performance are important, but they cannot come before the safety of every passenger on board or those communities along the system.”

 The report instructs Metro-North to take the following actions to mitigate risk and to begin a turnaround of the railroad’s safety culture:

• Effective immediately, Metro-North’s senior leadership must put safety front and center, and communicate and implement that priority throughout its organization.  
• Within 60 days, Metro-North shall submit to FRA a plan to improve its Safety Department’s mission and effectiveness, including providing appropriate in-person monitoring of field activities and personnel. 
• Within 60 days, Metro-North shall submit to FRA a plan to improve its employee training, ensuring that it develops and implements an effective training program for all operating departments. 

The assessment directs Metro-North to address twenty-five (25) specific recommendations covering eight (8) safety critical concerns identified by FRA.  These include:

• Track safety standards
• Railroad operating rules
• Certification requirements for locomotive engineers and conductors
• Safety training for roadway workers and employees who maintain rolling stock
• Train control systems
• Operations Control Center
• Fatigue management for maintenance-of-way employees     

“Safety is and must always be a railroad’s number one priority,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “It is essential that Metro-North ensure a safety culture that clearly prioritizes safety first – the traveling public deserves no less.”

FRA announced Operation Deep Dive on December 16, 2013 following a train crash near Spuyten Duyvil Station that killed four people and injured nearly 70 others.  The tragic accident is one of four notable accidents that occurred on the railroad in 2013.   Review the entire report on Metro-North.  Read our original announcement of Operation Deep Dive.  

FRA is committed to continuous safety improvement through a rigorous regulatory oversight driven by thorough inspections and enforcement actions when necessary. This strategy builds upon FRA’s data-driven approach that is a driving force in achieving historic safety gains across the rail industry over the last decade.  Learn more about the next generation of safety.