Safety Warnings Often Ignored at Metro

The number of major rail breaks during normal operating hours has increased from two in 2002 to eight last year, records show. Flaws that led to the breaks were not picked up by ultrasound or routine track inspections.

Records point to chronic shortcomings in the agency's track inspection program. Metro didn't formally train its track walkers until 1999. Internal audits in 2000 and 2004 found that track walkers were not adequately trained. Some walkers didn't know to report "unsafe conditions," and even experienced walkers sometimes missed problems because the eight miles they must cover each day was too great, the 2004 audit found.

"If I were an outside person looking at that audit, I would read it and say, 'Oh boy, there are some real problems here,' " Painter acknowledged. "But every time we've had any type of audit, we did everything within our capability to take that as good feedback and see what we could do better."

Metro officials were jolted to a new awareness Nov. 29, when rush hour traffic on the busy Red Line screeched to a halt. A highly unusual 65-inch break had severed a rail at the Judiciary Square Station. In many cases, Metro's "broken rail protection" system will cause a train to lose power before it hits a breach in the rail. But the system wasn't designed to pick up the type of break at Judiciary Square, and several trains bumped over it before it was discovered. Had the break been along a curve, safety chief Fred Goodine said, those trains likely would have derailed.

An earlier ultrasound of the area had pointed to a potential flaw, but the private company that conducted the test had mistakenly concluded that there was no problem and had moved on without informing Metro, agency officials said. Those officials criticized the company and began sending a Metro employee along with the contractors to supervise the work.

Early this year, a panel of officials from other subway systems brought in to study Metro's problems also targeted the track department, saying that track walkers were poorly trained and apathetic.

Metro officials said they are now conducting more ultrasonic inspections and improving training. They hope to strengthen the department by adding 14 track walkers next year. "We're not perfect," said Lou Testa, who took over the department from Painter on an interim basis. "But we're trying."

Lack of Regulation

The Federal Transit Administration, which provides funding for public transit agencies, conducts audits but has no authority to dictate even basic safety rules, such as the number of hours train operators must rest between shifts.

In contrast, the Federal Aviation Administration can enforce regulations covering the manufacturing, maintenance and operation of aircraft. Unlike the FTA, it can force airlines to address problems flagged by accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Prompted by several fatal subway accidents, the NTSB pushed for federal oversight, but Congress passed a compromise law that instead required the creation of state boards by 1997 to monitor subway safety. Most of those boards do not have the resources or authority to enforce safety standards, however.

The board that oversees Metro is no exception. The Tri-State Oversight Committee, consisting of transportation and emergency management employees from Virginia, Maryland and the District, has no office and no support staff.

The committee can't dictate safety rules or levy fines. The FTA criticized it in 2000 for lacking the resources to adequately oversee rail safety. Before the three jurisdictions raised a total of $150,000 to hire a consultant last year, the committee operated without any source of funding.