District of Columbia Personal Injury Blog - Mass Transit (Airline, Cruise Ship, Train, Bus)

Washington Metro Accident Didn't Have to Happen

Christopher Nace — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:23:31 GMT

Yesterday I wrote that we would be learning more and more about the Washington Metro accident fairly soon because the NTSB was usually willing to share information quickly following such tragic events.

Today, that information is continuing to come out, and the Washington Post is reporting that the driver of the second train may have in fact tried to manually apply the brakes to avoid collision.

The operator of the Metro train that slammed into a stationary train in front of it apparently had activated the emergency brakes in a failed effort to stop before the accident, federal officials said yesterday as they searched for the cause of Monday's Red Line wreck that killed nine and injured 80.

What's more troubling is that

Metro sources said, the first two cars of that train were two months overdue for scheduled maintenance of some braking components.

Moreover,

The six cars that made up Train 112 were put together in an unusual way. Metro trains operate in married pairs of cars, and the lead car is almost always an "A" car, which some operators say run more smoothly and communicate better with the electronic devices buried along the track. But in the case of Train 112, the lead car was a "B" car, Metro officials said. It was unclear last night why the train was configured that way. It was also unclear what effect, if any, the configuration could have had on the crash.

This is beginning to have the makings of an outrageous situation. Right now we know that (1) the cars involved in the accident were two months late for brake service; (2) the NTSB had instructed Metro in 2006 to replace and / or reconfigure certain cars for safety reasons; and, (3) the cars involved in the crash were put together in an "unusual way."

What's going on here? Millions of passengers travel on Metro each week. To visitors of our Nation's capital, the Metro is the best way to get around this wonderful city. Is the Metro authority taking shortcuts with rider safety? It certainly is beginning to look like this accident didn't have to happen.

Check back later as more information becomes available.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christopher Nace

Metro Train in Accident was Past-Due for Maintenance

Christopher Nace — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:27:00 GMT

As stated in a post earlier today, the NTSB usually gets information out to the public fairly quickly when dealing with accident investigations. Some of that information is in fact starting to come to light, including the fact that one of the car's involved in the accident was past-due for a brake inspection.

The Washington Post is reporting the following:

The Metro train car that slammed into another on the Red Line yesterday evening was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash, officials said today.

The Post goes on to explain that

According to a Metro source knowledgeable about railcar maintenance, the first car of the striking train was two months behind on a scheduled maintenance for changing out brakes and brake components.

The New York Times is also reporting that the NTSB is trying to determine why the Metro computer system did not activate the brakes remotely, and also why Metro did not head certain warnings about the need to upgrade certain Metro cars:

The investigators said they first wanted to figure out why the moving train’s computer system, which among other things controls the brakes, apparently did not automatically engage just before the crash. They also raised concerns about why city officials had not heeded warnings from federal safety officials to replace older cars, like the one that caused the crash because they were not sufficiently crash-ready.

In fact, we are starting to see some very strong language from the NTSB regarding Metro's failure to address certain dangers:

"We made recommendations in 2006 about the crash worthiness of the 1000 series cars," a National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman, Debbie Hersman, said at a news conference Tuesday. Ms. Hersman said the federal safety board had recommended that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which run Metro’s rail and bus systems, “either retrofit those cars or phase them out of the fleet.”

“They have not been able to do that and our recommendation was not addressed,” Ms. Hersman said, She called Metro’s response to the recommendations as "unacceptable."

There is sure to be more and more information coming out in the next few days, but this is a troubling, and even infuriating, development. To think that three years ago warnings that could have prevented this accident were given and not acted upon is, quite frankly, upsetting.

Keep checking back for more information as this investigation unfolds.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christopher Nace

Mayor Fenty Discusses D.C. Red-Line Metro Accident on Today Show

Christopher Nace — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:14:20 GMT

Adrian Fenty, Mayor of Washington, DC, discussed Monday's Metro Rail accident on the Today Show with Matt Lauer this morning:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31502458#31502458

During the interview, Mayor Fenty stated that rather than jump to conclusions about what happened, the best approach right now is to let the National Transportation Safety Board conduct its investigation. We know that the NTSB is usually willing to share information as it becomes available, so I am sure that over the next few days we will quickly begin learning what caused this horrific accident. Check back here for periodic updates as Washington tries to get to the bottom of this tragedy.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christopher Nace