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WMATA red line train derails near Farragut North station - 1/15/18


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#11 CNJRoss

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Posted 17 January 2018 - 07:48 AM

WTOP radio 1/16/18:
 

Metro: Red Line track inspected 5 days before train derailed

 

 

WASHINGTON — Nearly 30 minutes had passed before Metro confirmed that a Red Line train had left the tracks Monday morning — a derailment that occurred along a stretch of track that had been inspected just days before, a Metro official said.

 

Pat Lavin, Metro’s chief safety officer, also confirmed Tuesday that radio communication was spotty during the derailment response.

However it was not clear whether the problems with Metro’s radio system contributed to the delay in verifying the derailment.

 

Lavin said track inspectors last checked the stretch of track between the Farragut North and Metro Center station on Jan. 10. They also walked the stretch on Jan. 3 and 7.

 

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#12 CNJRoss

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Posted 19 January 2018 - 01:21 PM

The Washington Post,​ 1/17/18:

Rep. Barbara Comstock to Metro: Red Line derailment doesn’t inspire confidence

 

 

 

Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) on Wednesday demanded Metro officials release documents related to Monday’s Red Line derailment, accusing the transit agency of trying to gloss over persistent problems with safety and infrastructure.

 

In a cutting letter to Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld, Comstock said that in her view, “the system has gotten worse.”

 

“Another day; another Metro derailment,” the letter began. “Many [riders] come to expect these incidents as routine and a normal risk of their commute.”

 

Comstock introduced a bill in Congress last month that would provide more long-term funding for Metro in exchange significant governance reforms,  .  .  .

 

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Related: 

WMATA: Proposed 'METRO Accountability and Reform Act'

 

WMATA - 'Dedicated Funding' for Metrorail

 



#13 CNJRoss

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Posted 25 January 2018 - 01:08 PM

WTOP radio 1/25/18:

 
‘Compromised’ track showed signs of rust in Metro train derailment
January 25, 2018 9:50 am

 

The base of the 8-foot section of rail appeared to be rusting, Metro said, even though previous automated and human inspections had not identified any problems.

 

WASHINGTON — Metro left third rail power running for more than 20 minutes after a train derailed last week, despite the problem initially being reported as a smoke incident due to pulverized concrete — and the rail that broke under the 7000 Series train had shown previous signs of wear, an investigation found.

 

The base of the 8-foot section of rail appeared to be rusting, Metro said, even though previous automated and human inspections had not identified any problems that would lead the rail in a curve between Farragut North and Metro Center being taken out of service.

“[It] suggests that the integrity of the rail was compromised before the rail fully fracturing during the incident,” a Metro briefing document said.

 

The rail has now been sent for testing.

 

A Metro Transit Police officer on the train told Metro’s Rail Operations Control Center the incident appeared to be a derailment about 20 minutes after it occurred, after the train operator struggled to get radio communications out.

 

Continue here w/link to forward facing video during incident.



#14 CNJRoss

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Posted 26 January 2018 - 08:03 AM

The Washington Post,​ 1/25/18:

Metro defends track inspections, radio signal system in aftermath of derailment

 

 

Rust was found on the steel rail that fractured in a Red Line derailment near Farragut North last week, but the cracked rail that probably caused the crash would have been imperceptible to track walkers and ultrasonic inspection technology, Metro officials said Thursday.

 

Agency investigators are awaiting the results of metallurgy testing by outside experts, which are expected next month and may give a clearer indication about what caused the eight-foot section of track to crack at the start of the morning rush on Jan. 15.

 

Metro officials also discovered that the agency’s communications maintenance unit failed to keep up with prescribed inspection schedules of the radio signal system — a potential reason it took Metro’s traffic control center more than 10 minutes to receive an update from the train operator and determine that a derailment had occurred. 

 

SNIP  

 

“You can have all these layers of defenses, but if you have something on the bottom of the rail, that is not detectable with all the technology in the world,” Lavin said.

 

Metro Board member Robert Lauby, chairman of the panel’s safety committee and chief safety officer at the Federal Railroad Administration, said the derailment may have been a case of bad luck.

 

“It’s too bad that we had this accident. In my experience at FRA, broken rail accidents are the number one cause of derailments on mainline railroads in this country,” Lauby said. “We have processes in place to try to detect whatever we can, and it’s not always possible to find everything.”

 

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#15 CNJRoss

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Posted 26 January 2018 - 09:58 PM

WTOP Radio  1/26/18:

 
Metro radios still a problem, overhaul won’t be complete until 2022
 
 

WASHINGTON — If something happens in a Metro tunnel — like last week’s derailment — a radio should be the fastest way to get help. But Metro train operators worry that testing lapses exposed by the derailment have contributed to ongoing problems.

 

“You’re underground and you are in a position where the only help that you can get, the only assistance that you can have someone come to you with, is through radio communications. That’s the only thing that works,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 President Jackie Jeter said.

 

SNIP

 

A Metro investigation following last week’s derailment found radio system tests that were supposed to be done weekly were instead scheduled every other week — but only done monthly.

 

And when they were done, the tests only checked one-way of the two-way communication signal.

 

More here.






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