SAN FRANCISCO — New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its commuter railroads received six of the 12 honors in the American Public Transportation Association’s Rail Safety, Security, and Emergency Management Awards, handed out at APTA’s annual rail conference on Tuesday (July 1), 2025.
In Rail Safety, the MTA’s New York City Transit received a gold award in the Heavy Rail category; Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road each received certificates of merit. In Rail Security, the LIRR was a gold winner for commuter rail, and Metro-North received a certificate of merit. And in Rail Emergency Management, Metro-North was a gold winner and the only honoree.
The MTA safety award was for a system that brings together management and labor to improve compliance with track worker safety procedutres. The LIRR security award was for a new system known as Oscar, which brings together security information from thousands of sources. And Metro-North was honored for its “Code Silver” program for response to emergency events. More information is available in this MTA press release.
Other gold winners included Caltrain for commuter rail safety; the Maryland Transit Administration for Baltimore light rail; Tri-Met of Portland, Ore., for light rail/streetcar security; and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for heavy rail security. Additional awards of merit went to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (safety, light rail/streetcar) and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (security, commuter/intercity rail).
“Safety is paramount at Caltrain, and the culture of safety we practice permeates every aspect of our service,” Caltrain Executive Director Michelle Bouchard said in a press release outlining the operator’s recent safety improvements.
