Report: Metro-North driver to be tested for sleep disorder

The driver of a New York Metro-North commuter train that crashed last weekend is going to be tested for sleep apnea, according to a report.

The New York Daily News is reporting that the driver, William Rockefeller, will undergo an overnight test for the sleeping disorder next week.

Rockefeller reportedly told federal investigators that he was “not 100 percent awake” in the seconds before the crash on Sunday, which resulted in the deaths of four passengers.

{mosads}The National Transportation Safety Board has said that the train Rockefeller was driving was traveling 82 miles per hour in an area of track that had a 30 mile-per-hour speed limit.

The crash, which was the fourth Metro-North accident this year, led to four deaths and about 70 passengers being injured.

The accident has renewed calls for implementing an automated rail operation system known as Positive Train Control. Supporters of the automated train technology have argued that it would have prevented Sunday’s crash because computers would have realized the train was traveling too fast as it was approaching a sharp curve.

Congress has mandated that all railways install the automated technology by 2015. However, some rail companies, including Metro-North, had argued that the deadline should be delayed because of the cost of implementing the system.