Personal Injury Law

Metrorail System "Anamolies" Discovered

Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, Esquire

According to a recent Washington Post article by Lyndsey Layton, Maria Glod and Lena Sun, "Federal investigators said yesterday that they found 'anomalies' in a key component of the electronic control system along the Metro track north of Fort Totten, suggesting that computers might have sent one Red Line train crashing into another."  The report comments that a senior WMATA offcial has now come forward to state that "the computer system appeared to have faltered."

There is a 740-foot-long circuit near the crash which provides critical information, as well as authorization and speed commands to a following train.  If defective, major incidents, like the one recently experienced, can occur.  "If the train protection system is working as designed, when one train begins to enter the two-block buffer behind another, the computers automatically deploy the brakes on the second train and force it to stop," remarks the report.

Although a system failure may have occurred, investigators are still evaluating the conduct of the novice train operator who, unfortunately, lost her life in the crash, along with eight others.

Full post as published by DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog on June 25, 2009 (boomark / email).