TECH

New Jersey Transit's longest delay: Modern safety technology

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - This Oct. 1, 2016, file photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board shows damage done to the Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., after the Sept. 29 commuter train crash. Lawmakers investigating New Jersey Transit are expected to focus on the role modern safety technology could have played in preventing last month's deadly crash. Friday's hearing on Oct. 21, 2016, in Trenton comes after an Associated Press report found that NJ Transit had more accidents and paid more safety fines than any other commuter railroad since 2011. (Chris O'Neil/NTSB photo via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This Oct. 1, 2016, file photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board shows damage done to the Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., after a commuter train crash that killed one person and injured more than 100 others last week. Lawmakers investigating New Jersey Transit are expected to focus on the role modern safety technology could have played in preventing last month's deadly crash. Friday's hearing on Oct. 21, 2016, in Trenton comes after an Associated Press report found that NJ Transit had more accidents and paid more safety fines than any other commuter railroad since 2011. (Chris O'Neil/NTSB photo via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

Lawmakers investigating New Jersey Transit are expected to focus on the role modern safety technology could have played in preventing last month's deadly crash.

Friday's hearing in Trenton comes after an Associated Press report found that NJ Transit had more accidents and paid more safety fines than any other commuter railroad since 2011.

NJ Transit has been sluggish in installing federally mandated positive-train control technology. Six years after its plan received approval, the agency is still using speed controls developed in the 1950s.

In last month's crash, a train sped to double the 10 mph speed limit and hurdled into Hoboken Terminal, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 other people.