Passenger Trains > DC Metro: Is this a clown show (part 2)?

The Washington Post reports on the growing concern that the Metrorail Safety Commission, a Congressional agency, has about DC Metro's lack of safety culture.  Previous complaints about a lack of safety awareness in the operations center and deaths / injuries were noted in part 1 of Is this a clown show?. More recent incidents include a towed train with passengers that "got away" until an employee set a hand brake, and near strikes of track workers when operators ran red signals. Passengers have let themselves off stalled trains in third rail territory.  Lots of bad stuff. 

Metrorail's signals and allegations of employees running them have been an issue for decades. There have been documented cases of signal inconsistencies possibly due to inappropriate replacement rail segments. The agency allegedly replaced older rail with newer rail that did not conduct track occupancy in a consistent manner.  Metrorail has said all such segments were replaced.

The Metrorail says it will educate workers about not running red signals...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metrorail-safety/2021/04/13/4989c3ea-9c90-11eb-8005-bffc3a39f6d3_story.html

Sadly this has been a problem for nearly 20 years.

An insult to the honorable profession of clown, if you ask me.

Station stop announcement for "Juiceyairy" Square was entertaining.

DevalDragon Wrote:
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> Sadly this has been a problem for nearly 20 years.

Ironically, the FTA safety video one watches for Chicago Transit Authority’s Rail Safety Training features WMATA and a series of incidents with workers on the tracks about twenty years ago.

Posted from iPhone

This made me laugh out loud! Prior to retirement in 2019, I regularly rode Metro when I was in DC on business. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I could actually understand the announcement for the next station.

CW

Lurch_in_ABQ Wrote:
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> Station stop announcement for "Juiceyairy" Square
> was entertaining.

Posted from iPhone

kevink Wrote:
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> Ironically, the FTA safety video one watches for
> Chicago Transit Authority’s Rail Safety Training
> features WMATA and a series of incidents with
> workers on the tracks about twenty years ago.
>

I watched the same one while on a gig for another agency that avoided the headlines by virtue of WMATA and CTA fiascos.

TAW

> I think I can count on one hand the number of times I could actually
> understand the announcement for the next station.

I have more success understanding live announcements in Scotland than on DC Metro.

Compared to driving it's plenty safe.  Occasional fatal accidents is simply how life works, but when it comes to public transport suddenly the bar raises to 100% safety. 

mbrotzman Wrote:
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> Compared to driving it's plenty safe.  Occasional
> fatal accidents is simply how life works, but when
> it comes to public transport suddenly the bar
> raises to 100% safety. 

Out of curiosity, what percent saftey are you comfortable with if you ride public transportation - 75%, 60%, or maybe a 50-50 shot of getting to your destination safely?

Other than the towed train with passengers that "got away", this article seems more focused on the risks to track workers and other people who expect operators will stop at red signals.  Several track workers have perished in recent years.

The related issue is Washington DC Fire / Rescue placed an embargo on its first responders going into the subway tunnels for rescues, etc after dispatchers / ROC apparently failed to shut off power.  Although no Fire staff were killed, it took several months to work out those issues.