Recall threatens rail safety deadline

New delay possible for Metro-North’s Positive Train Control system

Hundreds of defective antenna assemblies for Metro-North’s long anticipated Positive Train Control safety system have been recalled, threatening further delays in an already delayed project.

More than 1,200 scanner assemblies that allow trains to communicate with a central system were recalled over defective parts. The signals allow the lifesaving PTC system to control trains, slowing or stopping them if they are operating in an unsafe manner.

“I will tell you none of us accept this level of failure,” said Neal Zuckerman, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member during a meeting this week in New York City.

“It is completely unacceptable,” Zuckerman said.

The problem centers around antenna assemblies manufactured by Siemens Rail Automation for MetroNorth and the Long Island Rail Road under a $428 million contract shared with Bombardier Transportation.

The PTC system transmits signals to and from rail cars to a central computer that tracks movement, speed and track conditions.

So far, 285 defective units were recalled from MetroNorth trains and are due to be replaced by July.

Another 976 defective units were recalled for LIRR trains and are scheduled to be replaced by October, MTA officials said.

Deborah Chin, the PTC project manager, said the recall will not cause the railroads to miss the Dec.

31, 2020 federal deadline to fully install PTC control on its trains.

“We still remain on target to implement by end of

2020,” Chin said. Metro-North and its parent, the MTA, are under pressure to meet that deadline. The railroad already missed a December 2018 deadline to install the system.

The railroads received a two-year extension from federal regulators — until the end of 2020 — to complete the project.

It’s widely believed PTC would have prevented a 2013 Metro-North derailment in the Bronx that killed four people and injured dozens of other passengers after a train overturned on a curve because it was traveling too fast.

MTA board members this week expressed frustration and anger over Siemens inability to provide the antenna assemblies on time and in working condition, prompting Lawrence Schwartz, an MTA board member, to threaten to fire the company.

As Siemens officials looked on, Schwartz noted the New York State legislature recently adopted a “disbarment” law that allows agencies to prevent underperforming companies from receiving future work.

“We have the legal right to disbar you,” Schwartz said.

Chin noted that last week the LIRR installed a repaired antenna unit that still didn’t work. She said MTA has placed officials in an oversight capacity at the company’s Pittsburg plant.

John Paljug, a Siemens executive, told board members that the company discovered a “tuning problem” with the antenna assembly and another internal issue.

“We have been making this product since 1997 and never had a systematic recall,” Paljug said. “This is first time this system reached this level of recall. We want the product to work as designed.”

Paljug said a second shift has been added to the manufacturing center to turn out modified devices.

“We adapted a new way of mounting it and we are finishing our vibration testing,” Paljug said. “It’s a big effort by the business and we are throwing people, talent and facilities at it right now.”

Jim Gildea, chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said if MetroNorth can replace the scanners by July the PTC project may be able to stay on schedule.

“With PTC, we are told that everything is moving ahead, or they are on schedule, and then a pretty big variable such as this occurs and it seems to come from nowhere and it’s not well communicated,” Gildea said.

Kevin Law, an MTA board member, said commuters are owed an apology.

“As the largest commuter lines in the country, I find it egregious that we are still talking about delays and it’s unacceptable,” Law said.

“I don’t understand how this has been allowed to happen,” he added. “It’s hard to fathom. I believe commuters on both rails deserve an apology.”

Metro-North also has faced delays in receiving the complicated software necessary to make the PTC system operate.