Editorial: Amtrak to NJ Transit: No safety system, no Penn Station

Amtrak has just increased the urgency to install positive train control throughout the NJ Transit system. If NJ Transit does not make the Dec. 31 deadline, Amtrak will not let the state’s commuter trains ride on its tracks. In short, it won’t matter whether the dual Hudson River rail tubes are “one-tracking” into Penn Station. No NJ Transit trains would be able to get into midtown Manhattan.

Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson did not sound like he was bluffing last week. In the wake of several fatal crashes across the nation, Amtrak is doing the right thing by all it commuters: putting safety first. That’s cold comfort to commuters who may find themselves scrambling in January.

As Curtis Tate reports for The Record and northjersey.com, as of Dec. 31, 2017, only 35 locomotives and cab-control cars in NJ Transit’s fleet have been equipped with positive train control. The rail agency must install the system on 440 pieces of rolling stock by Dec. 31.

NJ Transit officials during the Christie administration insisted it would make the deadline. Gov. Phil Murphy’s team is just getting into place and we, like many state legislators, are skeptical about NJ Transit meeting the deadline. The Federal Railroad Administration has proposed a $12,000 civil penalty for NJ Transit for failing to make adequate progress on installing the system. We’re not sure what a slap on the wrist does at this point.

Congress has continually moved the deadline back for installing a needed system of switches and signals that could prevent many rail accidents. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that it had investigated 22 accidents since 2008 that could have been prevented if positive train control had been installed. Positive train control will not prevent all accidents, but it will prevent many and save lives.

Meanwhile, Murphy announced Thursday that NJ Transit will take immediate steps to alleviate overcrowding throughout its system by putting more trains back into service, including 12 of 20 cars that have been sitting in a rail yard awaiting upgrades for positive train control. We hope that the effort to deal with passenger woes today does not compound them going forward.

We would rather hear that those cars were being upgraded at a faster rate. We also are concerned that NJ Transit will be leasing additional cars from Maryland Area Rail Commuter. We get the reason for doing it, we just wonder how NJ Transit will finance this whole plan.

In the coming weeks, we would like to hear from NJ Transit’s new executive director Kevin Corbett about how the agency will meet the Dec. 31 deadline. For example, can NJ Transit install positive train control on enough rolling stock to meet Amtrak’s requirement for the Northeast Corridor, while still needing an extension for trains running on the Main, Bergen and Pascack Valley lines that do not operate through Penn Station?

Yet at some point, a deadline must be firm. NJ Transit, whether it was because of a failure of its internal leadership or the Christie administration’s lack of interest – or a combination of both – has done too little to ensure that its commuters are safe.

We do not want NJ Transit trains blocked from Penn Station, but Amtrak’s approach is spot on.

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., who chairs the house subcommittee with oversight on railroads, said, “I think the American public is tired of excuses.”

That is certainly true in New Jersey.

NJ Transit:NJ Transit adding rail cars to offer commuter relief

Penn Station:You may not be able to take NJ Transit to N.Y. Penn Station if safety system not installed

NJ Transit:NJ Transit remains far short of completing safety system, report shows