Federal inspectors found more than 7,000 defects during 10 years of inspecting the Metro-North’s rail system, but never launched a full investigation until two calamities in Connecticut last May, according to Hearst Media Services Connecticut.
The defects were in every aspect of the operation, and included broken and cracked rail bars, which tie sections of track together. That defect is believed to have caused the derailment near Bridgeport last year that left 76 people injured.
Inspections last year uncovered five times as many issues per 100 miles of track as similar inspections of other commuter railroads, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders told the News Times that the railroad usually does better than most railroads during FRA inspections.
“All of FRA’s random inspections are intended to find and root out problems,” she said. “We take them very seriously and we use them in a constant effort to improve operations.”
Last month, the FRA released a report that Metro-North emphasized on-time performance over safe operations after a 60-day investigation was launched when a Bronx derailment killed four people.
The railroad’s new president Joseph Giulietti will report back to the FRA in May on their progress with the report’s specific safety requests, such as analyzing train schedules to make sure there is enough time for track inspection and maintenance.