New Jersey Transit, marked as the nation's second-largest commuter railroad, has been involved in more accidents in the past five years than any other U.S. commuter railroad, as reported by Associated Press in an investigation released last October 13th.
According to Fox News, the trains run by New Jersey Transit, have been caught up in 157 accidents since the start of 2011. This data is thrice as many as the Long Island Rail Road which is the largest commuter railroad.
Last month, the railroad whose train slammed into a New Jersey station has killed a woman and injured more than 100 people.
To this effect, NJ Transit has also paid $519,280 in fines for some 183 federal safety violations in that five-year period, according to the same report.
Further reports by Fox News conveyed the other key findings in the AP's review:
"NJ Transit had an accident rate of 2.7 per million miles traveled, nearly one full accident per million miles higher than that of the second most accident-prone railroad, the Chicago area's Metra.
"NJ Transit had 75 derailments, meaning at least one wheel left the track. That's more than the next four railroads combined. Its derailment rate of 1.27 per million miles traveled was nearly double that of Metra's.
"NJ Transit's extensive use of overhead power factored more than one-third of its accidents, with 57 incidents involving damage to the wires or a train's pantograph device.
"Human behavior was a factor in 57 percent of NJ Transit's accidents - 13 percent higher than the next highest railroad and occurred at a rate of 1.52 per million miles traveled, three times higher than any other railroad.
"Human behavior accounted for a higher percentage of NJ Transit accidents in each of the past three years: 58 percent in 2014, 62 percent in 2015 and 67 percent in the first seven months of 2016."
New Jersey Transit is the third major commuter railroad to face a federal safety investigation over the past four years. Since, NJ Transit serves more than 320,000 weekday riders, they are directed to follow safety measures to avoid fines.
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