NTSB: Train in crash was recommended for phaseout

[babylonsister]

NTSB: Train in crash was recommended for phaseout

By BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The subway train that plowed into another stopped train, killing at least seven people and injuring scores of others in the nation's capital, was part of an aging fleet that federal officials had sought to phase out because of safety concerns, an investigator said Tuesday.

But the Metrorail transit system kept the old trains running despite warnings in 2006, said Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The rush-hour crash sent more than 70 people to hospitals. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced Tuesday that seven had died, including the operator of the moving train. Earlier, the District of Columbia Fire Department Web site announced that three bodies had been found in addition to the six fatalities reported Monday.

Fenty said two victims were hospitalized in critical condition.

Hersman said investigators expect to recover recorders from the train that was struck. The train that triggered the collision was part of an old fleet that was not equipped with the devices, which can provide valuable information to determine why the crash occurred, Hersman said.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DC_METRO_TRAIN_DERAILMENT?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Ian David]

1. Thanks, Bush! n/t

[Towlie]

2. I didn't figure it would be the train's fault. I expect it to be traffic control or something.

[konnichi wa]

3. Damn trains, just like guns - they get a wild hair and start offing people all on their own.

...

[global1]

4. We Were Just In D.C. Last Week And Rode The Metro ........

I'm in D.C. every year about this time at a meeting. We taken the Metro all over the D.C. Metropolitan area - but this year it felt different. Instead of its usual fine tuned ride - we were always stopping in the tunnel and had many delays. One person in our party indicated that she was very uncomfortable riding - as she sensed something might be wrong with the system.

Much to our surprise - just one week later - this crash.

Aging problems with the system/trains appears to be the cause.

Look for more of this type of accident/tragedy to happen all over the country as the infrastructure that we all rely on daily begins to deteriorate and there is no monies in the system to provide preventative maintenance, repair and replace.

As municipalities struggle to eke by financially - more and more of this type of calamity will be occurring because all kinds of cuts are being made.

Our public health is being endangered every day because of the same circumstances impacting on all sorts of public utilities.

[TheMadMonk]

6. Aging infrastructure is one possibility.

But even if this is true, some sort of human failure is very likely to have contributed. I takes multiple failures (or interventions) in multiple systems to create a "runaway" train.

Accidents of this nature sometimes occur as a result of drivers relying on safety equipment, such as automatic brake trips at red signals, to keep them from making mistakes. Train drivers are notorious for doing things that take part of their attention away from the job they are supposed to be doing, such as reading while the train is in motion.

Another not uncommon practice is for drivers to overide deadman switches, because they find them "anoying".

Pure mechanical failure is a possibility, but there is a very good chance that some sort of human factor was involved.

[cagesoulman]

7. The NTSB has not mentioned human failure at all.

I don't think this lady did it. The NTSB is really ticked about the old trains.

[TheMadMonk]

8. Trains don't just plough full speed into the backs of other trains for no reason.

Other avenues for human failure exist. Poor maintenance; Lack of maintenance; a dsescision not to retrofit newer safety devices to aging rolling stock that is earmarked for scrapping (one day soon); incorrectly set points; incorrect signal; even deliberate sabotage.

Unfortunately, drivers tend to come in for their share of the bad press, because there is all too often something they could have done to lessen the impact of an accident such as this one. OR something they did, or failed to do, made the accident inevitable.

[TheMadMonk]

9. Just read WHY the NTSB is ticked about the older trains.

The older trains are structurally unsound, which causes accidents when they occur to be far more catastrophic than they might otherwise be.

[Captain Hilts]

5. "Transit should be self-supporting." Fuck that. nt