A Connecticut legislative committee will hold a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss Metro-North and rail safety.
The hearing comes after several high-profile problems on the rails, including a derailment in New York on December 1 that killed four people and injured dozens of others; a derailment in Bridgeport in May that injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor; and the death of a track foremen in West Haven on May 28.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the train that derailed in the Bronx had been traveling at 82 miles per hour in a 30 miles per hour zone.
Following that crash, the NTSB issued some safety requirements, including one calling for two crew members to be at the controls in areas where there are significant speed restrictions.
Prior to the fatal crash in West Haven, the track foreman had requested a track section be taken out of service for maintenance and a student traffic controller who didn't have the required approval placed it back in service too soon, according to the NTSB.
The Connecticut legislature’s Transportation Committee is holding the hearing at 2:15 p.m. in Room 1-E of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
