The Metro-North Railroad engineer who fell asleep at the controls while operating a train that derailed and killed four passengers last December was suffering from an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released reports today citing sleep apnea as the probable cause in last year's derailment, and identified the probable causes of four other major Metro-North accidents over the last two years, says The Wall Street Journal.
According to the reports, the railroad is guilty of a series of failures, including its lack of a comprehensive track maintenance program and less-stringent inspection requirements for high-density railroads.
In response to Metro-North's recent issues, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has installed a new management team and is shifting its focus to safety and beefing up its training and staffing procedures, says The Wall Street Journal. Metro-North is also working on a systemwide effort to rebuild its tracks and ramp up inspections.
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