Sunday marks the second anniversary of the derailment and collision of two Metro-North trains in Connecticut that resulted in more than 60 injuries.  This week, the railroad's president testified before the legislature's Transportation Committee about what's been done to improve safety and reliability since then. 

Wilton State Senator Toni Boucher is a staunch critic of Metro North, but did acknowledge the progress in restoring morale and instilling a culture of safety that seemed missing.  She says Giulietti came into the leadership role at the worst possible time for the railroad.

Boucher says a series of catastrophic events that would plague a rail company over a 20 tor 30 year period, nevermind in a less than two year period, was a daunting situation.

Commuter Advocate Jim Cameron says Joseph Giulietti credit for starting the railroad on the long, upward climb to restoring a state of good repair.  But as Giulietti cautioned this week, that journey will take another three to four years.  Cameron says that's indicative of just how badly the railroad had been run in recent years.

Cameron says there are still areas that need to be address including over crowding, enforcement of quiet car rules, branch service delays or substitute bussing, and ticket collection.  The railroad admits it loses millions of dollars in uncollected tickets each year, but says that amount is less than it would cost to fully staff trains and collect all tickets.