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New Jersey Transit operates an emergency operations center in Maplewood to prevent problems from happening and to collaborate a coordinated response to emergencies.

Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey Transit Executive Director Kevin Corbett and New Jersey Transit Chief of Police Christopher Trucillo gave a tour of the center to journalists on Tuesday. They provided a behind-the-scenes tour demonstrating the center’s operations during an emergency or large-scale event, and how the improved, unified operational communications functions on a day-to-day basis.

“We had a notion early on in our administration that we wanted to de-silo NJ Transit; we need to de-silo probably lots of parts of government,” Murphy said. “De-siloing and creating a war room mentality was an early objective that Kevin, [New Jersey Transit Chairwoman] Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti and I had so folks could get around the table in real time and exchange information. The end objective is to make that a much safer and fruitful experience for our commuters.”

Corbett said the center was funded with federal dollars.

“We pull all our resources here collectively,” Corbett said. “We have 24 screens that we can make into one picture. You can see the various stations. We see New York’s Port Authority bus terminal. You can check the ride ahead.”

The emergency operations center first opened in mid-2017 and serves as the coordination point for all operational business lines for both planned and unplanned events, according to a New Jersey Transit press release. It was activated for 22 planned and unplanned events, for a total of 89 days, in fiscal year 2018 ranging from major holidays like New Year’s Eve to weather events like the March 2018 snowstorms, Transit said.