MTA: Metro-North, LIRR already compliant with FRA safety advisory

Two of New York City's commuter-rail systems already are in compliance with the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) recent safety advisory issued to all passenger railroads, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced Tuesday.

MTA Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) met the FRA's recommendations following a requirement the federal agency made in response to a fatal derailment of a Metro-North train in December 2013.

The FRA's mandate after the December 2013 derailment called for automatic civil speed enforcement along Metro-North's system. MTA also applied the FRA's requirement to LIRR as well, officials said in a press release issued this week.

LIRR completed modifications to its signal systems in March 2014.

Due to these enhancements to the railroads' signal systems, trains that are traveling too quickly into a curve where a speed reduction of 20 mph or more is required would automatically slow to the mandated speed limit in the event the train's engineer failed to do so.

"Safety is the MTA’s top priority," said MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast, adding that the agency had worked quickly "to shore up a potential safety hazard as soon as it was identified by the Federal Railroad Administration."