Metro to Slow Trains Near Track Work

Board's Decision Comes After Deaths of Two Employees

Interim chief Dan Tangherlini says managers don't expect safety changes to cause significant delays. (By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)

The Metro transit authority is tightening safety procedures after the deaths of two track workers in the past seven months.

Effective Sunday, trains will be required to slow to about 15 mph when they come upon track work sites and employees, according to Metro's interim general manager, Dan Tangherlini. Trains usually travel 15 to 59 mph. Currently, such slowdowns are at the discretion of track supervisors.

Track workers also will be required to check in hourly by field radio with Metro's control center, which monitors all train movement. Safety officers will conduct "safety blitzes" of work sites to make sure employees are following procedures and to quiz them about the rules. Transit managers also are reviewing the manual flag signal system to alert trains to slow, stop or resume travel on the tracks.

In a meeting yesterday with reporters, Tangherlini said managers do not expect the changes to significantly extend the travel times of passengers. The agency also is working with outside agencies -- including the military -- and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents 7,000 of 10,000 employees, to conduct a comprehensive review of safety procedures and training.

On May 15, employee Jong Won Lee, 49, was struck and killed by a train at the Dupont Circle Station, seven months after another worker, Michael Waldron, 47, died when he was hit by a train near the Braddock Road stop in Alexandria. An internal investigation of Waldron's death concluded that a supervisor and the train operator failed to follow basic safety rules.

Lee's death is under investigation by Metro and the National Transportation Safety Board. The train that struck Lee was operating in automatic mode, traveling 40 mph and braking as it entered the station, officials have said.

Yesterday's wide-ranging discussion was also attended by board members Chris Zimmerman, who represents Virginia, and Charles Deegan, representing Maryland. Asked whether Tangherlini, who took over the top job 3 1/2 months ago, would be kept on, Deegan said he strongly supported such a move.

"I think he's doing an excellent job," he said, citing Tangherlini's emphasis on customer service and outreach to employees.

Zimmerman said he did not want to review a manager's performance in public. Tangherlini's contract runs until February, he noted. "As long as a manager is in a job, you can assume he is doing a good job," he said.

On MetroAccess, the problem-plagued transit service for people with disabilities, Tangherlini said he was "really frustrated" by what he called the "stickiness of the complaints." Service has improved in many ways, he said, but he does not know why serious difficulties remain for a small group of customers. "I don't have a good answer for you," he said. "It's a complete head-scratcher."

Tangherlini said he was looking forward to receiving recommendations from an advisory group named by the Metro board to review the service. An initial report found that MV Transportation, which was awarded the four-year, $210 million contract, lacks adequate, experienced staff. The report also found that Metro lacks the oversight needed to properly manage the service. Metro plans to research how much such a staff increase would cost.

The service provides rides for about 16,000 people, most of whom live in suburban Maryland and Virginia. After MV took over the service in January, Metro was deluged with record numbers of complaints about rides being late or failing to show up, travel routes that defied common sense, poor communication, rude telephone reservationists and drivers becoming lost.

"We still have more work to do," said Christian Kent, director of MetroAccess.

For the longer term, Tangherlini said, Metro might reconsider the way the service is structured. It is unusual for one company, such as MV, to be in charge of everything, from reservations to scheduling to dispatching. In many other systems, such as those of New York, Boston and Philadelphia, the services are provided by different companies.

Last week, MV officials said the company will purchase and distribute one type of regional map book so drivers will be using the same reference. MV's trip-scheduling software will have specific references to the book if drivers need additional directions.

That was of little comfort yesterday to Lois Williams, 81, a retired nurse. Williams was scheduled to be picked up at her Silver Spring home between 8:30 and 9 a.m. for a doctor's appointment in Olney. She was to have stitches removed after rotator cuff surgery. She had received an automated telephone call the night before confirming the correct pickup address, time and destination, she said.

But her ride never came.

"I had told them that I was in a lot of pain, that I had to get to the doctor, but they never showed up," she said.

Kent said that MV's scheduling software was having technical problems yesterday and that dispatchers were unable to contact drivers. He said MV hoped to have the problems fixed by today.