NJ Transit behind on safety gear

NJ Transit is far behind on installing safety technology and at risk of blowing an endof-year deadline, according to stats from the Federal Railroad Administration released Friday.

Only a third of the hardware needed for the technology, known as Positive Train Control, which aims to prevent derailment disasters and speeding, has been installed.

That put NJ Transit near the bottom of the list of commuter railroads installing the system.

It is only further along than Austin, Texas' CapMetro and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, according to a progress report through June 30.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder highlighted the positive developments, saying that the agency has finished 61% of the entire project, including the training of more than 800 employees, up from 12% complete after six months.

She said NJ Transit has made more strides in those six months than the previous administration made in the last six years.

“Positive Train Control implementation remains our highest priority,” Snyder said.

“While we've made significant progress and continue to work to meet the federal requirements by Dec. 31, we still have our work cut out for us over the next four months.”