Metro’s largest union is calling on the transit agency to run its trains no faster than 40 mph after rail safety incidents in the wake of last week’s near miss.
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 called on Metro to notify the union within 24 hours of all incidents of “any significance,” plus tell all workers so they can be on the alert for similar safety concerns.
“Before, we were ‘would you please,’ ” union President Jackie Jeter told the Washington Examiner. “Now we aren’t ‘would you please’ anymore.”
The union, which represents bus and train operators, issued the list of demands after Metro officials waited a full day to alert its oversight transit agency and begin investigating a case of a train operator engaging his emergency brake to avoid hitting another train. Jeter learned about it from media reports despite an agreement the agency made last summer to notify the union, she said.
The trains already have been slowed down since the deadly June 22 train crash that killed nine. Metro has been running them in manual mode, instead of automatic, which has caused some delays. Riders also regularly face slowdowns from track problems, train malfunctions and maintenance delays.
The trains already have been slowed down since the deadly June 22 train crash that killed nine. Metro has been running them in manual mode, instead of automatic, which has caused some delays. Riders also regularly face slowdowns from track problems, train malfunctions and maintenance delays.
A decrease to 40 mph from the top speed limits of 59 mph likely would cause further delays. Jeter said riders probably wouldn’t mind if they knew why they were occurring. She said Metro could use its network of electronic signs in stations and trains to alert riders of a safety slowdown on the affected line.
The agency would need to come up with a plan for how to conduct such slowdowns, but Jeter said such precautions likely wouldn’t need to last more than two days until the agency can isolate the primary cause of the incident.
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein on Monday said she would need to check to see whether the union’s requests were feasible.
