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Train Hits 2 Metro Workers, Killing 1
Metro and Fairfax County rescue officials inspect the scene where a Metrorail car struck two track workers, killing one and injuring the other.
(By James M. Thresher -- The Washington Post)
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Metro tightened safety procedures after the May accident. The new rules require trains to slow to about 15 mph when operators come upon track work sites and employees. Track workers are also required to check in hourly with the operations control center. Dispatchers are then required to notify train operators.
NTSB investigators downloaded information from the train's black box last night to determine how fast the train was traveling, whether its horn was sounded to alert the employees and whether the operator applied the brakes. NTSB officials said they plan to reconstruct the accident today.
The train operator has been a Metro employee since 1999 and in her current position since 2001, Metro officials said. The operator was interviewed by NTSB investigators yesterday and was taken for routine drug and alcohol testing.
Service on the southern end of the Yellow Line was disrupted for 4 1/2 hours, and Metro carried 2,253 passengers on free shuttle buses, agency officials said. Normal service resumed in time for the evening rush.
The employee who was killed, Leslie A. Cherry Jr., 52, of Clinton, had worked for the transit agency for 29 years. Most of his jobs were related to track inspection, spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.
The second employee, whose name and age Metro declined to provide, has been with Metro since April. He was in critical condition at Inova Fairfax Hospital, Metro officials said.
"I want to know how and why it happened," said Leslie Cherry, father of the worker who died. "He's been in the business for 30 years and was one of the safest employees they have." Cherry said his son was married and had two older children.
In October 2005, Michael Waldron, 47, died when he was hit by a train near the Braddock Road Station. An internal investigation of Waldron's death concluded that a supervisor and the train operator failed to follow basic safety rules.
Metro and Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 689, which represents about 7,000 of the agency's approximately 10,000 employees, have been working together since the Dupont Circle accident on safety issues.
"We're deeply saddened by what happened," union spokeswoman Jackie Jeter Jones said. "We don't know all the particulars, but we're talking about three employees here -- the operator and the two track people."
Members of the Lee and Waldron families said they were upset after learning of the accident.
"It is so sad," said Jong Pil Lee, whose brother was killed in the Dupont Circle accident. "These workers, they are truly heroes of the common people."
Waldron's widow, Betty Waldron, said the news made her feel sick. "I can't believe they have destroyed another family," she said.
Metro is creating two memorials to honor employees who died on the job and has also established a scholarship fund for children of those employees.
Staff writers Leef Smith, Eric M. Weiss and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.
