NJ Transit lost a quarter of its rail managers in 2 years before Hoboken crash, documents show

NJ Transit lost a quarter of its railroad managers in the two years prior to a fatal 2016 crash in Hoboken, according to a document the agency sent to federal regulators.

The exodus squeezed the agency from both sides: As 49 of NJ Transit's most senior rail supervisors retired between January 2014 and July 2016, a group of younger potential replacements, including some who were considered rising stars, left the agency for jobs from Connecticut to Florida.

The Record and NorthJersey.com obtained the list through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Railroad Administration. A total of 93 managers left NJ Transit from January 2014 to July 2016. There were 376 rail management positions then.

The names of the 93 managers who left the agency were redacted from the documents The Record received. However, the documents do show the titles, departments and years of experience they had.

Some employees had been with the agency for only a few years. Others had been there since its creation in 1979.

The list backs up public testimony from former agency officials who say a drain of institutional memory from the country's third-largest commuter agency may have contributed to operational and safety problems.

The list was sent to federal regulators two months before a crash at the Hoboken Terminal killed one woman and injured 110. It was NJ Transit's first fatal rail accident in 20 years.

NJ Transit operates one of the country's busiest commuter railroads, carrying more than 300,000 riders on an average weekday and more than 90 million total riders in 2016.

The agency was once considered a model for mass transit, but after years of lackluster state funding, it struggles to fully fund its operations and capital improvement program.

Though the agency says it has since filled many of the vacant positions, it remains lean on resources and low on morale, according to current and former officials.

Gov.-elect Phil Murphy has promised to fix NJ Transit's problems, but it isn't yet clear where he'll find the funding to do it.

Emil Frankel, a former commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation and a former assistant secretary of transportation for policy in the George W. Bush administration, said the pendulum can swing back and forth in state transportation agencies.

That ranges from being the place where everyone wants to work, as NJ Transit once was, to reaching a stage where an agency can't keep its best talent.

"It will reach a crisis point, and whoever is governor at the time will have to find resources to put into it," Frankel said.

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Staffing squeeze

Though it did not name the managers, the documents indicated whether they retired, resigned or went on medical leave. It listed the places where more than 30 of them found new jobs, including various levels of government from the City of Paterson to the Connecticut Department of Transportation to the Federal Railroad Administration.

In an attached letter, Robert Lavell, NJ Transit's vice president and general manager of rail operations, wrote that their combined experience totaled 2,339 years.

The Record and NorthJersey.com reported on Lavell's letter in November.

The list of management vacancies attached to the letter suggests an agency struggling to recruit and retain essential personnel.

While the list doesn't specify why NJ Transit managers sought work elsewhere, Lavell's letter did say say that the agency "cannot compete with the salaries offered."

Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman, said the agency has hired 141 people across the board since July 2016 and increased the number of management positions.

She said that 116 non-management workers had been promoted to management positions, and that salaries had been adjusted to become more competitive.

NJ Transit has about 11,000 employees.

Lavell's letter was part of a safety compliance audit of NJ Transit the Federal Railroad Administration had launched in early 2016. The federal agency was wrapping up its effort when a commuter train crashed into Hoboken Terminal on Sept. 29, 2016.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

Among other factors, the board is looking at what role the engineer's undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea, a sleeping disorder that can result in fatigue and drowsiness, might have played in the crash.

The NTSB is expected to reveal many of its findings in a hearing in Washington in February.

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Brain drain

Even with new hires, it can be difficult to replace the management experience lost.

Most of the 93 NJ Transit vacancies in July 2016 were in the infrastructure engineering, mechanical and transportation departments, positions that may not be visible to the riding public, but are essential to keep the railroad running.

Many had anywhere from 20 to 40 years of experience, making them some of the most knowledgeable people in the agency. One supervisor put in 45 years before retirement.

"There’s no bench," Frankel said. "They don’t have younger people able to step into these roles. That’s pervasive within transportation."

That level of talent could explain why NJ Transit employees are in such demand from other agencies, who benefited from their departures. A number of senior NJ Transit employees left to work at Amtrak, Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road and PATH.

One project engineer with seven years at NJ Transit left to work for the City of Paterson.

The general superintendent of transportation at Hoboken, a 40-year employee, took a job at the Federal Railroad Administration.

Lavell's own chief of staff, a 16-year veteran, left to work at the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

An October 2015 press release from Connecticut DOT shows that it hired Richard Andreski from NJ Transit to be its public transportation chief. Andreski, who could not be reached through his new employer, had been with NJ Transit since 1999.

Connecticut's transportation commissioner, Jim Redeker, had spent 30 years at NJ Transit and had come to Connecticut for the job Andreski was later recruited to do.

Five senior employees, including the railroad's compliance officer for train crews, went to Florida to work for BrightLine, a privately operated passenger service that is expected to eventually link Miami with Orlando. The Miami-to-West Palm Beach segment is set to open soon.

BrightLine's chief mechanical officer, Tom Rutkowski, had been with NJ Transit for 11 years and was "a rising star" there, according to his biography on the Florida railroad's website.

Rutkowski, who could not be reached through his new employer, was NJ Transit's general superintendent of equipment, managing locomotives, cars and employees at the railroad's Meadowlands Maintenance Complex.

A BrightLine recruiter visited him on the floor of the shop in Kearny, according to the company's website. Soon after, Rutkowski had a new job and moved his family from New Jersey to Florida.