Instead of taking transit officials to task for an accident that killed one Metrorail worker and critically injured another, Metro Board member Jim Graham took a cheap shot at the head of the National Transportation Safety Board called in to investigate. According to Graham, NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker was being “unprofessional” when he declared that three fatal accidents in just 13 months was “unacceptable.” But if anything, Rosenker was understating the problem.
The NTSB hasn’t even finished its investigation of a similar incident six months ago. One such fatality is an accident; three in little more than a year is a disturbing pattern. Did Metro managers learn nothing from the deaths of Michael Waldron, who was hit by another Yellow Line train in October 2005, and Jong Won Lee, who was struck by a Red Line train near DuPont Circle in May?
No matter what specific procedural, mechanical or human failure caused an out-of-service Yellow Line train to strike the two track inspectors Nov. 30 while they were performing routine track inspections, it’s got to be fixed before somebody else gets killed. NTSB investigators are attempting to do just that. They’ve recovered a videotape of the accident, interviewed employees, and will be reviewing toxicology tests (from both the train operator and the victims), track records and Metro’s own safety procedures to determine precisely what happened. But contrary to Graham’s assertion, it’s not too early to conclude that Metro’s current procedures are dangerously insufficient.
After Lee’s death, train operatorswere required to reduce their speed to 15 mph when approaching a “fixed worksite,” but this train was traveling 39 mph — more than twice that speed — when it reportedly struck the two victims from behind. Track walkers are supposed to contact Metro’s Operations Control Center to get permission for speed restrictions when they stop to make track repairs, but such safeguards apparently don’t apply when they’re on the move. Control Center dispatchers are supposed to alert train operators to the presence of workers on live tracks, but they’re expected to rely on visual identification to avoid hitting them.
This system clearly doesn’t work. The Tri-State Oversight Committee that reviews and signs off on Metrorail’s safety and security procedures every year should insist on the needed changes that should have been made after Waldron’s death more than a year ago.
Of significant concern to the traveling public is the fact that the Yellow Line train in question continued for 15 seconds after the brakes were applied, according to the NTSB. Metro had serious braking problems with 192 new rail cars last year, causing some to overshoot station platforms, but these mechanical problems were supposed to have been rectified by now.
Within the last three years, Metro trains have killed three Metro employees, a runaway Metro train backed into another one full of passengers at the Woodley Park Station, Metro lost $1 million in a parking lot scandal, Metro hired a convicted killer to drive a bus, Metro spent $58 million on a security communications system that doesn’t work properly, and Metro racked up more than $70 million this year alone in employee overtime.
Metro performance is unacceptable.
