The Federal Railroad Administration will require inward- and outward-facing cameras in all train cars throughout the country, two lawmakers said Sunday.
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) and Richard Blumenthal (D.-Conn.) pushed for the cameras after a Metro-North train derailed Dec. 1 near Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx, killing four people. The engineer told investigators he was in a tired “daze” before the crash.
Schumer said cameras will detect train engineers texting, playing games or nodding off.
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended train car cameras in 2008. Blumenthal criticized the railroad agency for delaying action.
“It shouldn’t take a tragedy like Spuyten Duyvil or two United States senators for the Federal Railroad Administration to do its job,” he said.
The administration will begin the process of enacting the rule this year, said spokesman Kevin Thompson.
