A Metro train operator who was fired for derailing her packed train last month had just returned to the transit agency after nine years of medical leave, sources told The Examiner.
Some of her peers say she wasn’t given enough retraining after such an extended absence.
“They need to stop blaming people and address their systems,” said a train operator who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation.
The derailment occurred Feb. 12 outside the Farragut North station when the operator’s Red Line train was misdirected into a side rail known as a pocket track that is often used for turning trains around. The operator ran a red signal, according to union officials and Metro employees, and the train derailed as a protective measure to stop the train from going into the path of other trains.
The derailment tied up commuters and trapped the 345 passengers aboard for more than an hour, with three suffering minor injuries.
Metro said Friday that the train operator had been fired for “failing to follow standard operating procedures.” An operations control center employee also had been placed on paid administrative leave, but spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said only the train operator was disciplined.
Metro did not release the operator’s name but said she had worked for Metro since 1976 and had been a train operator since April 1999.
But two Metro workers and a union official said she had been out on medical leave for nine years of that time and returned to the job recently, giving her less than two years of train-operating experience. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 President Jackie Jeter confirmed the operator had been on medical leave for a work-related injury until shortly before the crash.
Metro has now had two train derailments in as many months — both after trains ran red signals.
On March 10, a train operator ran a red signal in the Brentwood rail yard, causing a Red Line train to derail and damage the tracks. That operator remained on leave as of Tuesday as is standard during any accident investigation, according to Metro.
The derailments have prompted board members to ask the agency about the human risks of running trains in manual service, a policy enacted after the deadly June 22 train crash when a train running automatically slammed into a stopped train and killed nine people.
During her absence, Metro created new policies, brought in new types of rail cars and opened new Metrorail stations.
Metro would not comment on any leave time the woman took, nor on how much retraining she may have received, saying it was a personnel issue. But operators out for a lengthy period must take a written test when they return, Farbstein said. They receive a minimum of two weeks of retraining, then take more written tests before being recertified.
To become a new train operator, Metro employees must take a 13-week class, including four to five weeks of on-the-job training. They learn train mechanics, the rail system, the train and track equipment in addition to driving the train, spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
Bu the train operator was given a few weeks of retraining at most, according to a source.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the derailment, one of four ongoing investigations into Metro. Spokesman Terry Williams said the federal safety board will look into training programs and other issues as it does with any accident.
The union said it is looking into the matter, as well.
