The National Transportation Safety Board is extending this month’s hearings into Metro’s June 22 train crash for an extra day to squeeze in testimony from experts from around the country on transit, safety oversight and even unrelated fields that have good safety records.
Agencies called to the June 22 NTSB hearings:
» Metro
» Federal Transit Administration: The federal agency that oversees transit systems such as Metro.
» Federal Railroad Administration: The federal oversight agency that oversees freight, passenger and commute railways.
» Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689: Metro’s largest union that represents all train operators.
» Tri-State Oversight Committee: The local safety oversight agency that is supposed to oversee Metro.
» D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services: The emergency first responders to the crash
» Alstom Signaling Inc. and Union Switch and Signal: Two manufacturers of some of the key equipment at the center of the crash
» Massachusetts Department of Public Works, Regional Transit Authority of Illinois, California Public Utilities Commission: Safety oversight groups that are seen as alternative models.
» American Public Transportation Association: The industry trade group for subway systems
» University of California-Berkeley
» Department of Energy and contractor B&W Pantex: Well-regarded for their safety records as a federal agency and a contractor that maintains the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
The independent federal agency released a preliminary agenda on Thursday for the hearings scheduled for Feb. 23-25, extending the testimony from what was a two-day schedule. The NTSB does not hold hearings for each accident it investigates. But the crash was a high-profile case that has become the catalyst for the Obama administration and Congress to seek a new federal oversight structure for subway systems. The legislation is pending, but President Obama included $30 million for the new regulatory structure in his federal budget proposal.
The NTSB has spent months investigating the crash that killed nine and injured dozens more, but it has not formally declared a reason why a Red Line train slammed into a stopped train outside the Fort Totten train station at the start of the evening commute.
The hearings will likely not spell out the definitive cause of the crash as it may take months more before the federal investigators issue their final report.
But the hearings likely will shed light on the accident plus examine the adequacy of the local safety oversight committee and federal safety oversight of the nation’s rail transit systems.
Additionally, the board is calling in experts who can testify about what are known as “high reliability organizations” such as B&W Pantex, a Department of Energy contractor that maintains the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
