HOBOKEN — According to a tweet from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) “The probable cause of both Hoboken, N.J. and Brooklyn, N.Y. train accidents (in 2016 and 2017 respectively) was “fatigue as the result of undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea.”
The Hoboken train crash occurred the morning of Sept. 29, 2016 in which a commuter train travelling twice the speed limit on the Pascack Valley line plowed through the concrete at the Hoboken Terminal, killing local mom Fabiola Bittar de Kroon — who was hit by debris as she
walked nearby — and injuring over 100 other people.
Since the crash, the train engineer, Thomas Gallagher, has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and state officials have pushed for Positive Train Control to be installed, automatic controls that would slow a train entering the station.
An individual with sleep apnea has one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breathing during sleep, according to the National Health Institute. It may leave a sufferer feeling fatigued.
The NTSB has not completed a final report but is currently hosting a board conference that you can watch online via their website. See this weekend’s hudsonreporter.com for more information.
