The safety of several Metro track workers was threatened when an improperly routed train entered a portion of track designated as a work zone, creating what the transit agency called a “near miss” situation.
Portions of track between the Braddock Road and King Street stations on the Blue and Yellow lines were supposed to be closed to inbound train traffic last month while a maintenance crew performed routine circuit testing. But a disabled train on a nearby section of track prompted Metro’s central command to reroute inbound trains onto the closed track sections to allow traffic to continue in both directions.
Metro supervisors did not notify the track workers of the change, but a “spotter” working with the maintenance crew observed an inbound train traveling on the closed track section and alerted Metro supervisors.
“The potential for injury existed,” Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff wrote in an e-mail, although he reiterated several times that because the workers had not reached the breached area, “they were never in harm’s way.”
The near miss, first reported by WTOP, comes in the midst of a tumultuous period for Metro, during which the transit agency has battled to re-establish its safety credentials after a horrific crash killed nine Metro passengers and injured dozens more in June 2009.
In addition, four Metro employees have died on the job since the Red Line crash.
Two track workers in January were struck and killed by a service vehicle near the Rockville Station, and separate incidents involving track equipment killed two Metro employees last year.
Another near miss occurred in December 2009 in almost the exact same location as last month’s Braddock Road safety breakdown. A team of safety inspectors from the TriState Oversight Committee, an oversight agency composed of transportation officials from the Virginia, Maryland and D.C. departments of transportation, had to scramble out of the way of an oncoming train.
Matt Bassett, chairman of the committee, said the Sept. 20 incident, though troubling, may indicate that Metro is getting its act together.
“A near miss isn’t good news, but it’s not necessarily bad news either given the fact that a lot of the problems Metro’s faced in the past have stemmed from a lack of communication,” Bassett said.
“A year ago, I don’t know if we, as an oversight agency, ever would have found out about this near miss,” he said. “But in this case, their response was very swift and appropriate.”
