Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Giving funds to firms that already have open contracts with the agency as part of its superstorm Sandy “Disaster Recovery Program.”

Would build them far from where the storm-surge waters from Superstorm Sandy swamped the agency’s upper Hoboken and Meadowlands Maintenance Center yards. Nearly one-quarter of the agency’s fleet was damaged by flooding. Storm recovery aid allocation could be a deciding factor.

The agency incorrectly used software provided by the National Weather Service that could have warned against a decision to leave hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment in a low-lying rail yard before Superstorm Sandy struck and damaged nearly one-third of the transit system’s fleet.

When asked at a hearing why the agency didn’t move hundreds of railcars and engines before superstorm Sandy struck, executive director Jim Weinstein defended the decision. He said it was based on the fact that its yards had never flooded in NJ Transit’s nearly 30-year existence.

Report said the agency launched a probe into its Superstorm Sandy preparations, looking primarily at the decision to store trains in areas that ended up getting flooded. The potential damage could cost millions and may have been preventable.