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Investigation of Washington DC Metro Train Crash Under Way

USA — on June 23, 2009 12:43 pm

Train tracksNational Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators are trying to determine what caused two Washington D.C.-area commuter trains to collide in the northeastern part of the city during evening rush hour yesterday, in what was the deadliest train accident in the history of the Metro Area Transit Authority.

The crash, which occurred around 5 p.m. EST, happened when a moving train plowed into the back of a standing train which was waiting to enter a station.

The force of the impact was apparently so powerful that the front car of the second train ended on top of the rear car of the first train.

Nine people were killed in the accident, including the driver of the rear train, which happened between the above-ground Takoma and Fort Totten stations near the Maryland border of Washington, DC. At least 70 others were injured, some critically.

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In a scene of chaos and confusion, victims were taken out of the trains by medical personnel and by other passengers, and were carried to waiting ambulances.

Authorities are focusing on anti-collision sensors in the rear train, signal failure and operator error as possible causes of the crash.

The rear train was equipped with sensors which were supposed to stop the train if another train was detected within close proximity, but investigators are not sure why the system did not engage. They are also not sure why the driver, Jeanice McMillan, 42, didn’t stop the train manually when she saw the stopped train ahead of her.

Railroad crossingThe investigation is complicated by the fact that the rear train was not equipped with data recorders, which will make it more difficult to piece together what happened. It was an older model 1000 series train that the NTSB had recommended be replaced or retrofitted in 2004 and 2006. However, no action was taken to that end, and now some are wondering if the collision could have been avoided if the train had been a newer model.

The crash is the worst, but not the only one in the MATA’s history. In 1982 three passengers were killed when a train derailed, and in 2004 several passengers were injured when two trains collided. Three other accidents in the system’s 33-year history killed a total of five transit workers.

By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related links: United Press Int’l, Reuters, Washington Times, Washington Post, New York Times, Agence France-Presse

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    Metro officials say the FBI is assisting the NTSB with evidence collection:

    This is an accident that could have resulted from multiple failure points. The computer system could have faulted, failing to initiate braking. The devices on the train sensing the speed of the train could have failed. The devices on the track ahead could have failed to alert the system to the presence of a parked train. Or the braking devices on the train could have failed. We predict that all devices will be removed to a safe lab, tested, and found intact and working correctly. Systems such as this have fail safe mechanisms, and this means redundant sensing controls so that if one fails, another clicks in. It is not merely a backup, it is a great deal of redundancy, so that all sensing devices must have failed, simultaneously.

    Could the computer have failed, simply being unaware of the speed of the train and the presence of another train on the track ahead? This evidence will be in the computer system log. We predict that the computer system readouts will show that all components of the system were sensing correctly, and the system correctly alerted the computer system. This was the case at the time the train announced it was stopping due to another on the tracks ahead. What then caused the train to return to moving ahead, as though the tracks were clear? It was as though the computer system were suddenly disconnected from communications from the track ahead, yet nothing had changed. The track ahead and the position of the stopped train ahead had not changed in any manner. Yet the computer system concluded an all clear.

    Clearly the brakes worked, and were responsive to the computer system. The train had slowed and announced it was stopping. The emergency manual brakes likewise worked, and were applied just ahead of the crash. So if all systems were operational, then what caused the failure? If the computer system concluded that the way ahead was clear, then the signal transmitted to the oncoming train from the tracks ahead was lost. We have mentioned the increasing problem of electro-magnetic pulse caused by the charged tail of Planet X. Where brownouts and blackouts occur, this is covered in the media by various excuses such as an overtaxed electrical system. But these pulses affect systems other than the grid, as the downing of Air France 447 shows. Increasing incidences such as this will be occurring.