Long Island Rail Road Wins Gold Award for Security Operations
Metro-North Railroad Wins Gold Award for Emergency Preparedness
New York City Transit Wins Gold Award for Track Worker Safety
View Photos of Awards Ceremony
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced the Long Island Railroad (LIRR), Metro-North Railroad, and New York City Transit (NYCT) have won American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Gold awards for safety and security initiatives. These awards, named as Gold Awards for the top award, recognized transit agencies for proactive and innovative safety and security programs. Nominations were evaluated on effectiveness, benefit level, innovation, and transferability. APTA Gold Awards were presented at APTA's Rail Conference in San Franscisco to those organizations that represented exceptional examples of safety, security, and emergency management initiatives.
The LIRR won an award for using innovative technology to build a new centralized dashboard, “OSCAR,” to better monitor the thousands of sources of security data the railroad receives each day. Metro-North Railroad was recognized for developing “Code Silver,” a procedure to quickly and efficiently respond to emergency situations when necessary. And NYCT was honored for its audit system that brings together management and labor teams to enhance compliance with track worker safety procedures.
“Thank you APTA, for recognizing the LIRR’s commitment to safety and security,” said Long Island Rail Road President Rob Free. “OSCAR offers our security team a wealth of information in one convenient dashboard providing tremendous value and time savings, while ensuring the LIRR is a safe system for employees and customers.”
“Code Silver is about readiness and coordination. We thank APTA for recognizing this initiative with the Rail Emergency Management Gold Award,” said Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonashek. “I also want to thank the employees who trained, prepared, and stand ready. Your work makes Metro-North, and our region, safer.”
“I’m proud of the hard work NYC Transit has done to keep workers safe and I want to thank APTA for honoring that dedication to employee safety,” said NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow. “I look forward to working with APTA to share this program’s success with other transit agencies to advance industry-wide safety measures.”
Long Island Rail Road Wins Commuter Rail Security Gold Award
APTA awarded LIRR’s Operations Security Console, “OSCAR.” The LIRR Office of Security must monitor and generate daily security data from a variety of sources including crime statistics, quality of life conditions, workplace violence, passenger station conditions and customer satisfaction surveys. In order to better analyze data, identify emerging patterns and address any issues, LIRR developed a new centralized dashboard known as OSCAR. This new holistic, data driven approach to system security played a crucial role in the recent four-point increase in customer satisfaction surveys for safety at stations.
Metro-North Railroad Wins Commuter Rail Emergency Management Gold Award
APTA awarded Metro-North Railroad’s “Code Silver” program. “Code Silver” is a dedicated procedure for train crews and Metro-North’s Operations Control Center to follow when a situation requires it. These protocols eliminate decision-making delays, and immediately launch any appropriate protective actions coordinated with law enforcement. These steps include pre-defined service holds, train movement strategies, onboard and station announcements and evacuation instructions in case of a sensitive law-enforcement incident. Metro-North Railroad’s Code Silver procedure addresses the need for an immediate coordinated operational response, should that be necessary.
New York City Transit Wins Heavy Rail Safety Gold Award
APTA awarded NYCT’s Joint Track Safety Audit (JTSA) program. JTSA is a collaborative initiative between management and labor that strengthens compliance with Roadway Worker Protection programs and enhances safety at track work sites. Audits verify compliance with critical safety standards and the collaborative model leverages diverse perspectives to proactively identify and address safety gaps. Since its inception, the program has achieved a 97% compliance rate with Roadway Worker Protection programs.