{"id":6137,"date":"2013-06-21T12:20:11","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T19:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/?p=6137"},"modified":"2013-06-21T12:20:11","modified_gmt":"2013-06-21T19:20:11","slug":"metro-north-to-install-shunting-devices-to-increase-railroad-workers-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/6137\/metro-north-to-install-shunting-devices-to-increase-railroad-workers-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Metro-North to Install Shunting Devices to Increase Railroad Workers Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than three weeks after a Metro-North train struck and killed a railroad worker near West Haven, Federal investigators on Monday, June 17, issued an “urgent safety recommendation” saying the railroad should act quickly and start using a basic safety device to protect workers on its tracks. Metro-North railroad said they will implement a pilot program of using a shunting system to increase the safety of workers on the tracks.<\/p>\n

\"Metro<\/a><\/p>\n

A shunt is a device that \u201clooks like a jumper cable,\u201d according to Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders. It attaches with clips to both rails, closing the track to traffic. Blumenthal held a hearing this week of the Senate Commerce Committee in which he urged Metro-North to implement shunting devices and other safety measures.<\/p>\n

The National Transportation Safety Board \u201cissued an urgent recommendation for Metro-North on June 17 to \u2018immediately implement redundant signal protection, such as shunting, for maintenance-of-way work crews who depend on the train dispatcher to provide signal protection.\u2019 In response to this urgent recommendation, Metro-North will examine the potential use of shunting devices where it may be viable on the Metro-North system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metro-North railroad worker 52 year-old Robert Luden was a foreman from East Haven, CT who was killed on May 28 by a southbound commuter train while working on the tracks near the Metro-North station in West Haven. A student controller in the Operations Control Center in New York had removed electronic blocks that closed the track when a superior left the room. Luden had been employed by Metro-North for 27 years<\/p>\n

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said in an interview Monday that shunting is a basic safety step widely used in the rail industry, but not at Metro-North. Earlier Monday, she called Metro-North’s current safety protocols “ineffective.”<\/p>\n

Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said in a statement that the railroad is working to implement the NTSB’s recommendation.<\/p>\n

Anders said a student traffic controller and his supervisor were suspended without pay after the track foreman was struck and killed by a train last month.\u00a0 She said Tuesday that the suspensions are pending the outcome of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation.<\/p>\n

\n

Blog post by Gordon &amp Elias, a FELA lawyer and Connecticut railroad injury lawyer<\/a> who publishes train accidents and FELA legal news from across the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Less than three weeks after a Metro-North train struck and killed a railroad worker near West Haven, Federal investigators on Monday, June 17, issued an “urgent safety recommendation” saying the railroad should act quickly and start using a basic safety device to protect workers on its tracks. Metro-North railroad said they will implement a pilot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166,5,302,3,84],"tags":[215,301],"class_list":["post-6137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut-railroad-news","category-fela-law","category-metro-north","category-railroad-worker-injuries","category-railroad-workers","tag-connecticut-fela-lawyer","tag-connecticut-railroad-injury-lawyer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6137"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6151,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions\/6151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordon-elias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}