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Train Operator on Phone Before Hitting 2, Sources Say
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Federal investigators are analyzing data from the trains' event recorders, reading over interviews with more than a dozen Metro employees and, in the case of the Yellow Line accident, watching closed-circuit video from a platform security camera.
According to federal investigators, the train operator sounded her horn twice in the moments before hitting the workers. The first time was 12 seconds before impact, from a distance of two football fields. But she did not apply the brakes for at least another 10 seconds, from a distance of 50 feet, just before she struck the workers from behind.
About a month after the accident, Metro officials permanently barred the employee from operating a train or bus after an internal investigation concluded that she "did not exercise appropriate emergency braking procedures."
Metro requires train operators to sound their horns when workers are on the tracks and for workers to respond with hand signals before trains proceed. Without hand signals, operators are supposed to stay where they are and contact the control center for further instructions, officials have said.
The train operator, who is on leave and receiving workers' compensation, has been a Metro employee since 1999 and a train operator since 2001. Metro has not released her name.
The accident took place about 9:30 a.m. as an empty four-car train was leaving the Huntington Station and heading to the Alexandria rail yard, near the Eisenhower Avenue Station. The train was traveling at 39 mph.
The two track inspectors had been checking the rail for cracks, Metro officials said. Leslie Arvell Cherry, 52, who was known as Arvell, died on the day of the accident. Matthew Brooks, 36, of Waldorf died a week later.
After the November accident, Metro announced that track inspections would take place only between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., when fewer trains are running. Track inspectors, who have one of the most dangerous jobs at the agency, are also required to tell operators their locations, and trains are required to slow to less than 20 mph when coming within 600 feet of inspectors.
