Most of Metro-North tracks get ‘positive control’
BY MARK HALLUM
Metro-North has a
“positive” development
within the jungle of
coronavirus news and it comes in
the form of safety improvements
on what accounts for the majority
of the Metro-North Railroad.
Positive train control is now
live throughout the Harlem and
Hudson lines which is a failsafe
against dangerous speeds
that have been the blame for
deadly derailments across the
country and has come with a
federal order to be deployed by
rail companies.
“The activation of PTC along
our entire Harlem and Hudson
Lines and the New Canaan
Branch demonstrates our swift
and steady progress to meet our
systemwide goals for the end
of the year,” said Metro-North
President Catherine Rinaldi. “Our
team has been working diligently
on this crucial initiative to ensure
the safety of our system.”
The miles of track account for
up to 74.5% of the Metro-North’s
total mileage, according to the
MTA. Or for reference, the Hudson
Line’s 74 miles from Grand
Central Terminal to Poughkeepsie
and the Harlem Line’s 82 miles
from Grand Central Terminal to
Wassaic.
A call went up for the federal
government to require PTC after
a series of train wrecks for
which high speeds on turns were
A Long Island Rail Road commuter in at the Flushing – Main Street Station on the Port Washington line.
considered the blame, such as the
May 2015 incident of an Amtrak
derailment that killed eight passengers,
including two New Yorkers
from Queens.
Up to 108 other passengers
were sent to nearby hospitals.
The train had going around a
50-mile an hour curve at about
108 which investigators concluded
was an operational error
by the engineer, Brandon Bostian
of Forest Hills.
Lawyers representing victims
and the families of victims attempted
to bring criminal charges
against Bostian but the Philadelphia
District Attorney’s offi ce said
his actions did not fi t the billet for
criminal recklessness as proceeding
moved forward in May 2017.
That December, U.S. senators,
Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand
began placing pressure
on the federal Department of
Transportation to crack down on
railroad services that had failed
to put the technology – already
required by law at the time – into
place.
In April 2018, the MTA announced
it would begin testing
to implement PTC across their
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
commuter lines, MNR and the
Long Island Rail Road starting
with the Port Washington line.
At the time, the MTA said
80% of the hardware needed
on the rails was already in place
and 60% of the components for
the trains themselves had been
installed, so the infrastructure
for PTC would not need to built
out from the ground-up.
Cuomo waives 180-day instruction requirement for New York schools
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Governor Andrew
Cuomo announced
that the 180-day instruction
requirement for New
York schools has been waived
amid the coronavirus crisis.
Normally, schools in New
York have to instruct students
for at least 180 days in order to
receive state funding and must
make up lost days by either
adding extra hours to school
days or tacking on extra days
to academic calendars.
The announcement came
after Cuomo said he was
against calling for all schools
to close during the coronavirus
crisis because too many
students rely on their schools
for meals and having children
at home could prevent healthcare
workers with children
from showing up to work.
Cuomo added that it would
be up to localities to decided
on what to do about school
closures.
The state policy is schools
must shut down for 24 hours
in order to be cleaned if a
student tests positive for
COVID-19.
PHOTO VIA FLICKR/GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO
22 March 19, 2020 Schneps Media