Train crash spurs sleep apnea tests

Federal regulators want all passenger train operators in the U.S. tested for sleep apnea after the engineer in September’s deadly New Jersey commuter train crash was found to have the fatigue-inducing disorder.

The Federal Railroad Administration issued a safety advisory Friday calling for mandatory sleep apnea screening and treatment. It told railroads that engineers with severe sleep disorders shouldn’t be allowed to operate trains until they are treated.

Amtrak and some commuter railroads are already testing engineers for sleep apnea. Freight railroads say they also provide access to screening and treatment. Metro-North, a commuter railroad in the New York City suburbs, found that 1 in 9 of its engineers suffers from sleep apnea.

People with the disorder are repeatedly awakened and robbed of rest as their airway closes and their breathing stops, leading to daytime drowsiness.

The federal agency first recommended sleep apnea testing in 2004. It’s in the process of drafting rules that would make screening for all train operators mandatory.

In the Friday advisory, the agency also urged railroads to install inward-facing cameras in passenger train cabs to record engineers’ actions and aid crash investigations, and recommended railroads take steps to ensure engineers abide by speed limits, particularly in stations where tracks end at a platform.

One woman was killed and more than 100 people were injured when a New Jersey Transit train slammed into Hoboken Terminal at double the 10 mph speed limit Sept. 29.

Engineer Thomas Gallagher, 48, told investigators that he felt fully rested when he reported to work. He said he had no memory of the crash and only remembered waking up on the floor of the cab.

Gallagher had passed a physical in July and wasn’t diagnosed with severe sleep apnea until after the crash, his lawyer, Jack Arsenault, said.