Is there news yet of what caused the horrific DC Metro train crash?
Metro General Manager John Catoe said the first train stopped short of the platform to wait for another train to clear the station when it was struck. It’s unclear why the driver of the second train did not stop. Catoe said the female operator of the second train was killed in the crash. He said trains will not run on that section of the track Tuesday. NTSB board member Debbie Hersman said the investigators would be looking at whether the striking train was being operated manually, or in automatic. Metro transit’s policy is to operate trains in automatic mode during peak hours.
D.C. Metro Wreck Survivor Tells of Heroism After Horror Surviving Passenger Describes Wreck That Killed at Least 7, NTSB Had Warned About the Safety of Trains Like Those in Monday’s wreck By LEE FERRAN, KATE BARRETT and KRISTINA WONG WASHINGTON, June 23, 2009 Passenger Father Dave Bottoms could only watch as the train car he sat in plowed into a stopped train ahead, crumpling its frame and sending a “wave” of wreckage toward him. “I began praying,” Bottoms said. “It slowed down about three seats in front of our area.” Bottoms, a survivor of Monday’s D.C. Metro crash that killed at least seven people and injured dozens of others, told “Good Morning America” today that when the screeching of the metal stopped, the screaming started — a woman and a man in his car had been pinned under some collapsed seats. “A few people released themselves and climbed over the wreckage,” Bottoms said. “I heard her screaming. I talked to her to her, encouraged her.” Bottoms said he assured the woman that
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and has assigned a railroad investigator and two specialists from its office of transportation disaster assistance. Investigators will probably focus on a failure of Metro’s computerized signal system, designed to prevent trains from coming close enough to collide, as well as operator error, according to former Metro officials. The system relies on electronic relays — each about the size of a hardcover book — aboard trains and buried beside the tracks along each line. When a train gets too close to another train, the system is designed to automatically stop the approaching train. It should work whether trains are being operated manually or by computer. But even if the signal system failed to stop the train, the operator should have intervened and applied emergency brakes, safety experts familiar with Metro’s operations told the Post.
Metro General Manager John Catoe said the first train stopped short of the platform to wait for another train to clear the station when it was struck. It’s unclear why the driver of the second train did not stop. Catoe said the female operator of the second train was killed in the crash. He said trains will not run on that section of the track Tuesday. NTSB board member Debbie Hersman said the investigators would be looking at whether the striking train was being operated manually, or in automatic. Metro transit’s policy is to operate trains in automatic mode during peak hours. Sources: http://www.policelink.
D.C. Metro Wreck Survivor Tells of Heroism After Horror Surviving Passenger Describes Wreck That Killed at Least 7, NTSB Had Warned About the Safety of Trains Like Those in Monday’s wreck By LEE FERRAN, KATE BARRETT and KRISTINA WONG WASHINGTON, June 23, 2009 Passenger Father Dave Bottoms could only watch as the train car he sat in plowed into a stopped train ahead, crumpling its frame and sending a “wave” of wreckage toward him. “I began praying,” Bottoms said. “It slowed down about three seats in front of our area.” Bottoms, a survivor of Monday’s D.C. Metro crash that killed at least seven people and injured dozens of others, told “Good Morning America” today that when the screeching of the metal stopped, the screaming started — a woman and a man in his car had been pinned under some collapsed seats. “A few people released themselves and climbed over the wreckage,” Bottoms said. “I heard her screaming. I talked to her to her, encouraged her.” Bottoms said he assured the woman that
