Another Day, Another NJ Transit Delay: More Derailments, More Problems

A New Jersey Transit train derailed today in New York City’s Penn Station near the end of the Monday morning rush hour. Five people have been reported hurt who suffered minor injuries. All NJ Transit Service into and out of Penn Station was suspended as of 9:30 a.m. Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast, Raritan Valley and Midtown Direct service is effected, NJ Transit said. Midtown Direct trains are going to Hoboken instead, where there are large crowds. This is not a surprise because NJ Transit has 12 times more equipment failures than any other commuter train in the nation. This is the direct result of funding being slashed by 90 percent in the past 11 years. We are also concerned that while funding has been slashed, federal funding that was supposed to go towards Positive Train Control braking systems instead went to operations and maintenance.

“Every day NJ Transit commuters are trying to get to work on time, but it is getting harder and harder because the delays and accidents are increasing. While NJ Transit fares have been raised nine times and service has been cut, they have still not made our trains safer. We are concerned that the derailment at Penn Station is the result of not updating our safety controls because the Christie Administration have played games with funding. At the same time, we have seen more equipment breakdowns because NJ Transit has failed to update our aging rail system. Instead of installing breaking equipment and improving our rails, the Christie Administration have cut public transit funding and put people at risk,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are glad there are no more serious injuries from today’s NJ Transit derailment, but we cannot be playing Russian Roulette with our transit system. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people impacted by this transit nightmare.”

While ridership has gone up 20 percent, capital spending has gone down 19 percent. We even received $8 billion in federal funding for capital improvements, but that money went to operations and maintenance because NJ Transit is broke. The NJ Transit train crash into the Hoboken station killed at least one person and injured more than 100 people. The incident occurred because the train was going too fast as it pulled into the station. At other terminals including Penn Station, if the engineer is speeding, but fails to press a button, an automated system immediately applies emergency brakes. However, no such automatic braking system exists on any NJ Transit locomotives nor have employees received the training. The National Transportation Safety Board estimates braking systems like Positive Train Control could have prevented 145 accidents since 1969 which killed 296 people and injured 6,700.

“Even after the Hoboken disaster, NJ Transit has still yet to install safety equipment to improve our aging rails. Our transit system actually has 12 times more equipment failures than any other in the nation. At the same time funding has been cut by 90 percent. We need to replace these antiquated braking systems and monitor our rail lines to prevent future disasters, but we cannot do so if they keep taking the funding. All along the Christie Administration has played games with transit funding, but there are serious consequences. Now another derailment may be the result,” said Jeff Tittel. “Instead of using the $8 billion of federal funding for capital upgrades like automatic braking, NJ Transit used it for tires and to keep the lights on. While there have been runaway trains and malfunctions happening along NJ Transit lines, the federal government even mandated NJ Transit to upgrade their system with an automatic braking system, but they have failed to do. This is because they keep cutting funding to make commuters safer.”

NJ Transit receives smaller portions of their operating budgets from state and local governments or other funding like advertising—which means our N.J. commuters are forced to pay more. Since 1988, the gas tax hasn’t been raised, but the fares for NJ Transit have been raised 9 times. All along, the Christie Administration has continuously balanced the NJ Transit budget by stealing money from clean energy. As a result of the Christie Administration’s method of pay-as-you-go financing for capital, the state borrowed a total 97.4 percent of all transportation capital costs during his first four years in office. The state raided $62 million from the Clean Energy fund to go towards New Jersey Transit.

“Given what’s happened in Hoboken and today in New York City, we need to ensure we have proper scrutiny on our transit rail lines. We not only need an investigation to find out what caused this accident, but what could be done to prevent it from happening again. Some of the failures we have seen on NJ Transit rail lines are because equipment is too old or did not work. This braking system should have been replaced a long time ago,” said Jeff Tittel.

New Jersey has the worst smog in the nation from car and truck pollution. We should be promoting public transportation as a way to reduce our impact on climate change.  The failure to have good and reliable public transit is bad for the environment because it will out more people in cars and increase pollution.

“The Christie Administration’s failure to invest in transportation may have caused this disaster. While services have gone down on NJ Transit, there have been more delays and breakdowns. There must be an independent investigation to determine if NJ Transit could have helped implemented better safety and monitoring controls to avoid this disaster,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We once had one of the best transit systems in the country, but the Christie Administration’s mismanagement and failure to fund transportation has almost ruined it.”

April 3, 2017

Contact: Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100