November 9, 2017

More than 40 New Jersey Transit train engineers were sidelined after testing imposed in the wake of a deadly rail crash found that they suffered from sleep apnea, the agency said Wednesday following mandates instituted after the deadly crash in Hoboken last year. Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
(Published Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017)

Submitted by New Jersey Truck Crash Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark

More than 40 New Jersey Transit train engineers were sidelined after testing imposed in the wake of a deadly rail crash found that they suffered from sleep apnea, the agency said Wednesday following mandates instituted after the deadly crash in Hoboken last year.

NJ Transit made changes to its sleep apnea screening process, in place since 2005, after the September 2016 crash at Hoboken Terminal.

The agency screened 373 engineers for sleep disorders over the past year — 57 of those engineers were referred to for a sleep study. Of the 57 engineers, 44 were diagnosed with sleep apnea and were taken out of service until they could be cleared by a doctor or treated, the agency said. (The 13 other engineers were found to not have sleep disorders.)

As of Wednesday, only two of the engineers remained sidelined, according to NJ Transit.

The engineers of two commuter trains that slammed into New York City-area stations in the last year were both suffering from severe sleep apnea and have no memory of the crashes, according to investigative reports and interview transcripts made public Thursday. Pei-Sze Cheng reports.

(Published Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017)

In September 2016, a train slammed into Hoboken Station, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 people. The National Transportation Safety Board found the engineer of that train suffered from sleep apnea.

MTA, which governs Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road and New York City Transit is in the process of testing 20,000 of its employees. In late September, the MTA said half of those employees had been screened and 20 percent were flagged for being at risk.

Earlier this year, the federal government pulled back from mandating sleep apnea testing for railroad workers and truck drivers, but new legislation has been introduced to mandate that once again.

Originally published here by nbcnewyork.com.

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