(The following story by Ken Belson appeared on the New York Times website on February 12.)
NEW YORK — New Jersey Transit suspended all scheduled repair work on Monday, one day after a track welder was struck and killed by a train in the first fatal accident involving an employee at the agency since 2001.
Richard R. Sarles, the executive director of the agency, said he was personally leading the investigation, whose results will be turned over to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Investigators are reviewing witnesses’ accounts of the accident, which occurred near the Ridgewood station about 8:15 a.m. Sunday when a train with 20 passengers hit the welder, Simplicio Nino of Clifton, N.J., a longtime employee.
“We are being thorough and deliberate,” Mr. Sarles said. “It is better to be right than to be fast. The point is we need to understand fully the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.”
They are also examining whether safety rules and procedures were properly followed and are downloading data from the train, said a New Jersey Transit spokesman, Dan Stessel, who said there was no deadline for completing the investigation.
About 900 track employees spent Monday in briefings reviewing safety rules and regulations. Grief counselors will be stationed at the Hoboken Terminal this week.
Mr. Nino, 58, worked at New Jersey Transit for 36 years. He was performing regularly scheduled track maintenance when he was hit, according to the agency.
Mr. Nino’s daughter said it was not unusual for her father to work on a Sunday.
Fausto Mercado, Mr. Nino’s son-in-law, said his father-in-law “had no fears whatsoever” about his work.
“He was 36 years on the job, and he never hurt his finger,” Mr. Mercado said. “This should be looked into more.”
Mr. Mercado declined to say whether his family would file a lawsuit against the agency, but said he was waiting to see the findings of the investigation.
The last employee fatality at the agency occurred in October 2001, when a train traveling between Hoboken and Gladstone struck and killed a track inspector on the tracks just east of Broad Street Station in Newark. The police said the employee was inspecting the tracks at the time.
Before that, the most recent fatality was in 1998.
Fifteen employees of freight and passenger railroads nationwide died on the job in 2007, including one fatality at the Long Island Rail Road.
A service for Mr. Nino will be held at the Seventh-day Adventist Church at 240 Montgomery Street in Jersey City on Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mr. Nino will buried on Friday morning.