The National Transportation Safety Board wants the Federal Railroad Administration to require railroads to medically screen “safety-sensitive” employees for sleep disorders.
The recommendation came in a special investigation report about two end-of-track collisions at commuter train stations in New Jersey and New York.
In a separate report, the NTSB said last week that both accidents, which involved commuter railroads in the New York City area, were caused by engineer fatigue resulting from undiagnosed and untreated obstructive sleep apnea.
In both accidents trains struck end-of-track bumping posts and continued into the waiting rooms of the stations.
In a news release, the MTSB said both incidents had “almost identical” probable causes and safety issues.
The NTSB also called for the use of technology such as positive train control in terminal stations and improving the effectiveness of system safety program plans to improve terminal operations.
The New Jersey accident, which occurred on Sept. 29, 2016, and involved a New Jersey Transit train in Hoboken, killed one person and injured 110.
The other accident involved the Long Island Rail Road and occurred on Jan. 4, 2017, at the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, New York. That incident injured 108.
Tags: Federal Railroad Administration, Long Island Railroad, National Transportation Safety Board, New Jersey Transit, NTSB investigations, NTSB reports, sleep apnea, sleep disorders
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