Report: Operator in fatal NJ train crash had sleep condition

The engineer involved in a deadly New Jersey Transit train crash had a sleep condition that went undiagnosed, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

{mosads}Two officials briefed on the matter told the AP that the 48-year-old conductor was diagnosed with sleep apnea only after the Sept. 29 crash, which killed one person standing on the platform of the Hoboken station and injured more than 100 others.

NJ Transit screens its engineers for sleep apnea, and one of the officials said it’s “not clear why he wasn’t screened or if he was, how he passed.”

The engineer of a deadly New York City train crash in 2013 also had undiagnosed sleep apnea, the AP noted. The condition causes a person’s airways to close and stops their breathing during sleep, which can lead to daytime drowsiness.

Investigators are still probing the likely cause of the New Jersey incident, although officials have already determined that the train was going twice the speed limit when it slammed into the Hoboken station during morning rush hour.

The engineer said he had no memory of the crash, but told investigators he felt fully rested that morning.