Transit boss: Rail workers on job 7 days straight

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told federal safety officials that traffic control staff at the Metro-North Railroad worked seven days straight for weeks when several accidents, including one fatal, disrupted commutes in Connecticut and New York last year.

MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast said in an interview with the National Transportation Safety Board in March that the overworked staffers direct commuter train movements, making sure trains run without problems. He blamed personnel shortages.

The New York Daily News (http://nydn.us/1ytLxPH ) reported the interview Sunday.

A Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx, New York, on Dec. 1, 2013, killing four passengers.

Earlier that year, a track worker was struck and killed by a train in West Haven, Connecticut, and scores were injured in a derailment in Bridgeport, Connecticut, days earlier.