Feds Order Unprecedented Review of Metro-North Safety

"Federal transportation officials said on Thursday that they would begin an extraordinarily rare review of the operations and “safety culture” of the Metro-North Railroad — the first such investigation ever conducted for a passenger railroad," reports Matt Flegenheimer. The announcement of the review, dubbed "Operation Deep Dive", comes less than two weeks after engineer error allegedly caused a Metro-North commuter train to derail in the Bronx, killing four.  

"Officials said the safety review was a consequence not only of the recent derailment, in which the train’s operator apparently became dazed at the controls as the train sped toward a sharp curve, but also a series of episodes on Metro-North this year," explains Flegenheimer. "These included a train collision in May on the New Haven line, which injured scores of passengers; the death less than two weeks later of a track foreman in West Haven, Conn., who was struck after a trainee rail traffic controller opened a section of track without proper clearance; and the derailment of a freight train in Spuyten Duyvil in July."