FRA Says NJ Transit Failed to Report Accidents & Injuries

NEWARK, N.J. -- New Jersey Transit could face fines of up to $297,000 because it failed to report dozens of accidents and injuries to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The 91 violations, which occurred last year and involved train employees and passengers, were uncovered during an audit the federal agency conducted over the past few months. The agency said 28 of the violations were for deliberately not reporting injuries or incidents.

Mike Purviance, a spokesman for the agency, said it would audit NJ Transit's safety records for the next three years. "This is a major enforcement action," Purviance told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's [March 9] editions.

"We are very concerned about their record-keeping. But it does not mean NJ Transit's trains are unsafe," Purviance said. "If they were unsafe, we would have taken extraordinary measures."

NJ Transit officials declined to answer comment on the report, but in a prepared statement said they would "fully comply with their recommendations" and already have implemented some of the changes.

Union leaders, who cooperated with the investigation, said the audit's findings exposed NJ Transit's practice of not reporting injuries in order to protect its safety statistics and win national awards.