A Metro-North railroad official admitted Wednesday that maintenance on the line is years behind schedule, including in the Bridgeport area, where a passenger train derailed in May, causing a disastrous collision with another train. At a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on two May accidents on the New Haven Line, Metro-North Chief Engineer Robert Puciloski said a five-year cycle of maintenance had not been conducted in the area of the collision since 2005. [...] the board's chairwoman, saying the investigations could result in improved rail safety across the country, praised Metro-North for admitting its shortcomings and taking steps to improve. Hersman said after that accident, the NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to Metro-North to use shunting equipment as a safety precaution. Despite the number of injuries in the collision of the two trains May 17, David Tyrell of the Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center stated that the cars performed relatively well under the circumstances. Yoichiro Araki, a representative of Kawasaki -- which was recently commissioned to build the next generation of Metro-North cars -- said information from this accident would be used in the design process of the next model to improve safety. The hearing continues Thursday, and is scheduled to focus primarily on the West Haven accident, delving into issues including worker safety, risk management, and the strengthening of organizational safety cultures.