Metro tests circuits, rearranges cars in wake of crash
Examiner Staff Writer
July 3, 2009
By Hayley Peterson Special to The Examiner
Nearly all the track circuits on Metrorail have been tested and passed inspection since the fatal crash on June 22 and nearly all older cars have been moved to the center of the trains, General Manager John Catoe said during an online chat Thursday.
A faulty circuit might have been at the root of the crash on the Red Line that killed nine people and injured at least 70.
Circuits help keep track of trains on the rail system, and part of a circuit on the track near the Fort Totten station that was replaced June 17 "periodically lost its ability to detect trains" in the five days before the crash, according to federal investigators.
But Metro can't guarantee the 2,550 circuits that have passed inspections since June 22 will necessarily function correctly. Catoe said the problem circuit near Fort Totten also passed Metro's routine inspection before the crash.
Catoe confirmed that Metro would continue to use the older, 1000 Series cars that crumpled in the Metro crash. The National Transportation Safety Board warned Metro about the 30-year-old cars in 2002 and again in 2006. Instead of replacing the cars with newer models immediately like NTSB recommended, "our plan was to replace those [older] railcars at the end of their service life," Catoe said Thursday during the chat on the transit agency's Web site.
Now that NTSB's concerns have been realized in a fatal crash, Metro has begun sandwiching the older cars between newer models.
"Just as most people can't trade up to the newest model automobile every time an automobile manufacturer designs a stronger vehicle with added safety features, we can't trade up to the newest railcar designs every year," Catoe said.
Metro owns 300 of the older 1000 Series cars. Replacing one car would cost $3 million, according to Catoe, meaning the entire project would cost nearly $1 billion.
If Metro simply stopped using the older cars without replacing them, the number of passengers the transit system could transport in a day would be reduced by one quarter, he said.
Note: Friday is a federal holiday, so Metro will be operating on a Saturday schedule. This means the rail system will run from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m and trains on all lines will operate every 12 minutes. After 8 p.m., trains will operate every 15 to 20 minutes.
