Some MTA officials want to know much faster from federal investigators what causes railroad accidents so they can fix safety problems before they snowball.

Board member Charles Moerdler criticized the National Transportation Safety Board for not releasing a preliminary cause for five Metro-North accidents until last week.

“It becomes worthless,” said Moerdler, who sits on the MTA’s Metro-North committee. “The only thing we had were rumors and idle conversation. The NTSB is long on public relations and short on public responsibility.”

He said the Federal Railroad Administration was more helpful in fixing safety problems at the railroad, since its intensive Operation Deep Dive came out in March– about three months after the Bronx derailment that killed four people.

The NTSB said that a typical investigation from their agency takes 12 to 18 months, and they issue safety recommendations when something needs immediate attention.