Metro urges harried Red Line riders to take the bus
By: Kytja Weir
July 29, 2009
Metro supervisor
back to old work
The sole Metro employee to be reassigned in the wake of the June 22 crash is back to his old job.
Matthew Matyuf, the automatic train control division superintendent, had been assigned to a “special project” after the deadly crash. Metro officials had likened it to a bus driver or police officer being reassigned during an investigation following an accident.
But he was reinstated late Monday, as first reported by WTOP.
“The decision was made internally that it was appropriate to put him back,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel told The Examiner.
Taubenkibel would not say what the special project was that Matyuf had been working on.
Metro is urging Red Line riders who are getting sick of the daily train delays after the June 22 crash to think about taking the bus instead.
The push came Tuesday, more than a month after the crash killed nine and injured more than 70 people. “It’s just a friendly reminder that the bus is still an option,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
But the reminder may signal that delays will continue, even after the National Transportation Safety Board wraps up its investigation.
“Whatever the NTSB recommends, we know that we will likely need to replace some standard parts, such as track circuit cable, which takes weeks to manufacture and deliver,” Metro General Manager John Catoe said. “We want to have these parts in stock and available to us.”
However, Taubenkibel said the agency has not ordered any equipment because it doesn’t know what will make the system safer. “We will be stockpiling some equipment,” he said. And that work may lead to more delays.
The investigation so far has focused on a faulty circuit at the crash site where two pieces of equipment began to falter after they were replaced, one in December 2007 and the other five days before the crash. Since then, Metro has taken a closer look at the other 3,000 track circuits in the system and found problems with at least 14 of them. That has meant slowdowns around the system, but especially on the Red Line.
“We’re trying to prepare our customers for whatever comes out next,” Taubenkibel said.
kweir@washingtonexaminer.com
