PERMANENT CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE MTA
MINUTES OF JUNE 12, 2014
A meeting of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) to the MTA was convened at 12:00 noon on June 12, 2014, in the 5th floor Board room at MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City.
The following members were present:
Andrew Albert Ira Greenberg
Francena Amparo Christopher Greif
James F. Blair William K. Guild
Gerard P. Bringmann Marisol Halpern
Francis T. Corcoran Matthew Kessler
Mark Epstein Trudy Mason
Randy Glucksman Larry Rubinstein
Stuart Goldstein Michael Sinansky
Burton Strauss
The following members were absent:
Sheila Carpenter Edith Prentiss
Richard Cataggio Maureen Michaels
Owen Costello Raymond Pagano
Mike Godino Bryan Peranzo
In addition, the following persons were present:
William A. Henderson -PCAC Executive Director
Ellyn Shannon -PCAC Associate Director
Angela Bellisio -PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Berger -PCAC Research Associate
Bradley Brashears -PCAC Research Assistant
Steve Blackistone -National Transportation Safety Board
Marc Martinez -LIRR
Hector Garcia -LIRR
Richard Holdener -Village of Freeport
Dustin Jones -Disabled In Action
Yvonne Morrow -Concerned citizen
Richard Schulman -Concerned citizen
Matt Shotkin -Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the June 12, 2014 meeting was approved. The minutes of the March 6, 2014 meeting were approved.
Chair’s Report
Chair Randolph Glucksman reviewed the accomplishments made through work done at the Executive Committee level. He said that the major accomplishment of this year was to fill the Associate Director and Transportation Planner positions. Mr. Glucksman also noted that there has been an increase to the PCAC budget through MTA funding for a special project and that additional funds will be requested at a later date.
Mr. Glucksman also noted that the a memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been negotiated with the MTA with regard to personnel matters and that the process of fitting out the new PCAC space at 2 Broadway is underway and that some of the Executive Committee members have seen the new space. The PCAC has requested some changes to the initial plan for the space, and these are under consideration.
The PCAC has also received approval for the members to have entry passes for 2 Broadway, although the details of this process will require some fine tuning. The passes that were to be issued expire automatically if they are not used for a period of two months, and so would not be appropriate for Council members
LIRRCC
Larry Rubinstein delivered the LIRRCC Chair’s report. He said that the biggest issue facing the LIRRCC is the choice of an LIRR President to replace Helena Williams. He said that the LIRRCC is asking questions about the recent problems with service for the Belmont Stakes and that the Council will be having a Meet the Commuter Council event at Penn Station, which will focus on the possibility of an LIRR strike.
Chris Greif asked whether there will be a Meet the Council event at Atlantic Terminal. Mr. Rubinstein said that there are logistical issues involved with holding an event at Atlantic Terminal. William Henderson noted that the LIRRCC did have an event scheduled there in the past year, but it was cancelled due to weather and the Council will plan another event in Brooklyn.
MNRCC
New MNRCC member Francena Amparo introduced herself to her fellow members of the PCAC. She said that she was raised in New York City and lives in Wappinger Falls. She commutes to Manhattan using Metro-North Monday through Friday.
Mr. Glucksman discussed the meeting that the Council had held with Joseph Giulietti, Metro-North’s new President. He said that it was a valuable opportunity for the members and Mr. Giulietti to get to know each other.
NYCTRC
Andrew Albert delivered the NYC Transit Riders Council Chair’s report and noted that ridership is up to levels not seen since the early post-World War II period. He also noted that the M60 bus has been converted to Select Bus Service operation and that a new bus service, the M12, is coming to the far West Side of Manhattan and will be operating every 30 minutes when it begins service. There is some concern that the new service could draw riders from other West Side buses and lead to loss of frequency on these routes. Mr. Albert also said that the NYCTRC would be holding a press event to release the results of its study of scheduled service diversions.
Old Business
The members gave final approval to the standards of conduct that had been presented previously. All members present voted to adopt the standards, with the exception of Mark Epstein and Ira Greenberg, who abstained from the vote.
New Business
No New Business was discussed
Introduction of Introduction of Steve Blackistone, State and Local Liaison — National Transportation Safety Board, to Discuss the NTSB, Its Purpose and Organization, and Its Investigative Process.
A copy of Mr. Blackistone’s presentation is on file in the PCAC office.
Mr. Blackistone said that his agency is currently in a period of transition as its longtime Chairman, Deborah Hersman, has moved on and no one has been yet nominated to replace her.
Mr. Blackistone said that the NTSB started as part of the Civil Aviation Board and has sole authority to investigate accidents in aviation, rail, highway, pipeline, and marine transportation. Though it is not limited to aviation, the NTSB is required by statute to investigate all civil aviation accidents and expends most of its efforts in this mode of travel. This authority gives the NTSB the ability to take charge of investigations in which they are involved.
One point of primary interest to the NTSB is the recovery of black boxes and the data that they contain in the case of aircraft accidents. Contrary to their name, black boxes are bright orange and are designed to securely hold flight data for review in case of an incident. After an accident, a black box is sent to a lab in Washington for recovery of the data on it. Data recorders are most often discussed in regard to aviation, but almost all vehicles have event data recorders. For example, there are event recorders in auto airbags and all commercial vehicles are required by federal law to have data recorders. Some of these devices record voices, but the resulting audio recordings are reduced to a transcript so that the actual conversations are not made public.
Mr. Blackistone said that NTSB conducts its investigations using the party system, where the Board allows entities with a substantial connection to an incident to be part of its investigation. The parties are involved in the fact finding part of the investigation and not in the issuing of conclusions, and they agree not to speak about the investigation outside of the framework established by NTSB. He noted that improper discussions of the incident had occurred in the investigation of the Spuyten Duyvil accident and that a party had been removed.
Family assistance is another function of the NTSB that has been mandated by Congress. The NTSB does not provide assistance directly, but informs families of accident victims of the resources available and makes sure that they have access to necessary and required support services. Under the law, the carriers have responsibilities to provide support to accident victims.
Among the most visible parts of the NTSB’s functions is its work in holding public hearings to investigate particular incidents or issues. While these hearings are public, testimony at them is by invitation only. Following these hearings and other investigation, a report is prepared by NTSB staff and Board members make the final determination as to the cause of an accident and recommendations resulting from the investigation.
Mr. Blackistone said that people often ask why investigations take so long. He said that there are often many issues involved and time is needed for analysis and for the parties to come to agreement on what occurred. As a result, investigations generally take from 18 to 24 months. Chairman Hersman had tried to shorten the investigation period, but that meant that other functions of the NTSB received fewer resources.
In terms of its engagement with Metro-North the NTSB is conducting an investigation that includes five incidents, among them the Bridgeport and Spuyten Duyvil derailments and three worker fatalities.
At Bridgeport there were 75 injuries and Mr. Blackistone said that the NTSB is focusing on issues of track inspection and quality. There had been a problem identified on the same track two days before the accident, but the NTSB is still working on identifying the reason for the derailment.
At Spuyten Duyvil the cars that left the track also turned over, increasing the number and severity of injuries. It has been documented that the train that derailed was traveling at 82 mph in a 30 mph zone. Mr. Blackistone said the NTSB expects to have a public meeting on its Metro-North investigations in November and to issue a single report for at least four of the five incidents.
Mr. Blackistone noted that once the NTSB has met and made its recommendations, it has no authority to mandate that anyone does anything. The main tool that the NTSB has is the bully pulpit, but the Board’s credibility has resulted in 80 percent of its recommendations being implemented. Each year the NTSB publishes a list of the 10 most wanted reforms and Mr. Blackistone said that he hopes that the PCAC will advocate for those reforms that apply to rail transportation.
Mr. Henderson asked what determines whether an accident is investigated by the NTSB. Mr. Blackistone replied that it varies by mode. Generally, accidents that involve multiple fatalities, major accidents, and accident that raise important questions are the best candidates for an NTSB investigation. He said that the NTSB would be investigating the recent automobile accident involving actor Tracy Morgan because of questions about vehicle survivability and hours of service for the truck driver involved in the accident.
Andrew Albert asked whether the NTSB has anything to say about the dead-man’s feature on transit vehicles. Mr. Blackistone responded that the NTSB has made recommendations about this feature.
Karyl Berger stated that she had heard that Congress is considering loosening regulations on drivers’ hours of service. Mr. Blackistone stated that the NTSB does not make recommendations for specific regulations, but has recommended that regulations provide for effective rest. He said that the fight in Congress on this issue is largely on economic issues and that he cannot predict its outcome.
Jim Blair asked Mr. Blackistone to characterize the level of cooperation and support that the NTSB has received from Metro North and to comment on the issues in getting a confidential close call reporting system established. Mr. Blackistone responded that Metro-North has been very cooperative and that Anne Kirsch has been wonderful. He noted that close call reporting systems began in the aviation industry. Typically, there is a database where crews can report close calls without revealing their identities. This structure gives regulators a sense of where to allocate resources.
Having incident reporting systems has brought down the numbers of aviation accidents and Mr. Blackistone said that he believes that the Department of Transportation would like to establish them nationwide. Implementing these systems is difficult because of privacy and regulatory concerns. Chris Hart, the Acting NTSC Chairman, is an advocate for this from his time at FAA, where he managed this system.
Mr. Blair asked the state of practice in passenger rail. Mr. Blackistone replied that before the last surface transportation bill, the federal government had limited authority to regulate commuter rail, except under FRA regulations, and so there is not much history in this area.
Trudy Mason asked whether the NTSB would get involved in something like the recent disappearance of a Malaysian Airlines plane. Mr. Blackistone said that the NTSB’s involvement in international accidents is regulated by treaty, but that the Board provides technical assistance in some incidents.
Mr. Rubinstein asked whether the NTSB has access to bus data recorders.
Mr. Blackistone replied that the bus companies own these devices and data and that the NTSB investigates few bus accidents. He said that the last one was an accident with fatalities near the Westchester/Bronx border. The NTSB works with law enforcement when there is a criminal investigation, but independently has authority to investigate any accident.
Mr. Greif asked whether the NTSB will to make recommendations about safety with reference to broken rails, as is thought to be the cause of the F train derailment in Queens. Mr. Blackistone commented that the Bridgeport derailment involved broken rails, but there are many incidents of broken rails and track defects that happen frequently.
Mr. Blair asked Mr. Blackistone if he could characterize general level of railroad safety in the United States compared to other counties. Mr. Blackistone responded that he could not as the NTSB has not looked at safety issues in other counties.
Mark Epstein asked whether the NTSB will be giving recommendations on car design to the MTA before the design of the new M-9 cars is completed. Mr. Blackistone replied that any recommendations would probably come in November and that he is unsure whether this would be in time to affect the design.
Ira Greenberg asked whether the NTSB will make these recommendations to the FRA. Mr. Blackistone stated they probably will aim the recommendations at the FRA, but the Board does make recommendations directly to operators.
Francena Amparo asked what factors impact whether an investigation is conducted when there are frequent incidents of a given type. Mr. Blackistone said that the Board looks at what is going on in various transportation sectors and conducts investigations. The Board may conduct an investigation when a pattern of incidents indicate a major issue, even if incidents are on different properties.
Ms. Amparo asked whether the NTSB is looking at freight shipment of crude oil as it relates to the Hudson Valley.
Mr. Blackistone said that this is a major focus of NTSB’s efforts. The Board conducted a two day forum on the shipment of crude oil that looked at crashworthiness, local response, and regulation. The NTSB is assisting in the investigation of the Quebec accident involving an oil train and is looking at Lynchburg, Virginia and North Dakota accidents.
Marisol Halpern wanted to know if the NTSB would look at accidents involving persons with mental illness being hit by trains. Mr. Blackistone stated that this topic probably would not be investigated.
Mr. Greif asked whether the NTSB gets involved in issues where suicide is involved. Mr. Blackistone replied that it is very difficult to make recommendations in this area.
Mr. Berger asked who contacts the NTSB when cases like Spuyten Duyvil derailment happen. Mr. Blackistone said that sometimes the operator notifies them and sometimes NTSB personnel learn of incidents in the media. He noted that the federal emergency communication system has information on these incidents.
Mr. Henderson asked how the NTSB interfaces with State-level accident investigation bodies. Mr. Blackistone responded that the NTSB works with them, receives information from them, coordinates with them about advocacy on safety issues, and provides comments on their activities. He said that it is difficult to keep tabs on all fifty States.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director