An engineer who blacked out while operating a train, due to undiagnosed sleep apnea, won his arbitration case and will be reinstated as an engineer, as long as he meets medical conditions and continues sleep apnea treatment. He was suspended and subsequently fired after the crash, a decision that he appealed.
The crash occurred as his Pascack Valley Line train was approaching the end of the trip, arriving in Hoboken Terminal. The train sped up to 21 mph, twice the posted speed limit, crashed through a concrete bumper at the end of track five and into the station. Gallagher was found unconscious in the cab of the train and told investigators he had no recollection of the crash.
A pedestrian in the station, Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, of Hoboken, was killed by falling debris from a collapsed canopy.
