Radios Don't Work In Metro's New Cars
Portable Alternative's Reliability Is Debated

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2008

The radios in Metro's highly publicized new rail cars are not compatible with the agency's troubled radio network, so train operators must rely on handheld radios to communicate with the system's control center, officials said.

Train operators say the handheld radios are less reliable than radios built into rail-car consoles. The operators are concerned that precious time could be wasted during emergencies.

Metro officials and union representatives said the dependence on handheld radios in the new cars does not compromise safety because there are backup measures to allow operators to get in touch with central control, which monitors and directs all train movement.

The transit agency has been eagerly awaiting the full deployment of new rail cars to ease crowding and add capacity as Metro heads into its busiest season. The majority of the cars are running on the Green Line, where ridership is expected to surge when baseball season starts in three weeks because the city has urged fans to take Metro to the Navy Yard Station, a block from Nationals Park.

Of the 184 new cars that are supposed to be delivered to Metro, 158 are running. Metro's total fleet has 1,114 cars.

The radios in the new rail cars, which make up 14 percent of the fleet, are designed to work with a more advanced communications system. Metro has been trying to get an advanced radio system to work reliably since buying it eight years ago. But the upgrade is not complete, making the radios in the consoles of the new rail cars useless.

The radios in the older rail cars are compatible with the current system and work.

Metro Transit Police and track workers have long complained about poor radio reception in certain "dead spots" while using handheld devices.

The radio problem leaves some train operators worried when they get into one of the new cars. Instead of a console radio as primary communication with the control center, operators must rely on battery-operated handsets. The poorer reception on the handsets, particularly underground, makes it harder to hear what control is telling them, they say. About 60 miles of Metro's 106-mile system are underground.

"It's a disaster waiting to happen," one senior operator on the Green Line said. He described a scenario of a train in a tunnel with the operator having only a handset to communicate with central control. "If we've got to evacuate, I'm sitting there because I don't know we have to evacuate because I can't communicate with them," he said.

He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of jeopardizing his job.

All train operators are required to carry a handheld radio so that they have communication with central control if they need to leave the train cab. The radio system is used for internal Metro communications. It is separate from the intercom system that train operators use to talk to passengers. That system works properly on the new rail cars.

Jackie Jeter, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents roughly 7,000 employees, including train operators, said she was not aware of safety issues related to the inoperable radios in the new cars. If a handheld radio is not working, rail personnel have access to phones in station kiosks and in emergency call-boxes located every 800 feet along the track, Jeter said.

In emergencies, the control center can shut off power to a portion of the track, said Dan Epps, who is in charge of daily rail operations.

Metro's rail chief, Dave Kubicek, said the problem is with the troubled $73 million radio system that Metro bought from Motorola in 2000. "There's nothing wrong with the radios," he said. "The infrastructure is incapable of receiving at this time."

Kubicek said Metro and Motorola have been repositioning underground cables and antennas to improve reception. Reception around the Green Line stations near the new ballpark is much improved, officials said. Kubicek said he is "targeting" the underground work to be completed and the overall system to be working by the end of the year.

Kubicek said dead spots affect console radios and handhelds the same way, so if a handheld radio can't get reception, the console radio can't, either. As an additional precaution, he said, the control center will not implement a command unless it receives an acknowledgment from the train operator.

But train operators said they can hear better on a console radio because "it's right in front of you," according to another operator who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A handset can be damaged if dropped, its batteries can run down, or it can slip off the train console. If someone falls on the tracks and central control is trying to tell an operator to stop the train, an operator with only a handset might not hear the communication, operators said.

Kubicek, who took over as rail chief last fall, said officials knew since "day one" that the radios on the new rail cars would not be compatible with the existing system.

To compensate, Kubicek said, he issued a memo directing employees operating new cars to carry two handhelds instead of the required one. Operators said they never received two handsets, and other Metro officials said they were not aware of the two radio-requirement.