Schumer Calls For Inward-Facing Cameras On NJ TRANSIT After Hoboken Crash
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says inward-facing cameras should be installed on all New York City metropolitan area railroad systems to avoid accidents such as the recent New Jersey Transit crash.
The New York Democrat says cameras will help improve safety and help investigators determine causes of a crash.
"God forbid after a crash they show you what went on in a cab," Schumer said. "Second, they might prevent things."
Schumer also said the presence of the cameras may also prevent dangerous patterns or behaviors from engineers, WCBS 880's Kelly Waldron reported.
Schumer says Amtrak has put cameras in all its Northeast Corridor locomotives.
Two years ago the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced plans to install video cameras and audio recorders on most Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road trains. The announcement came after a December 2013 Metro-North derailment in the Bronx that killed four passengers.
More: Recent Dangerous Train Crashes Near Tri-State
The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to look into why a train was traveling twice the speed limit when it crashed into the station Sept. 29, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 people.
With the partial resumption of service on Monday, a new rule will require that the conductor join the engineer whenever a train pulls into the terminal, NJ Transit spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson said. That means a second set of eyes will be watching as a train enters the final phase of its trip at stations where there are platforms at the end of the rails.
In last week's crash, the engineer was alone at the time. He has told federal investigators he has no memory of the crash.
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