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The Metro Train Accident
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Washington
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It strikes me as dangerous policy that Metro trains so frequently stop en route from one station to another because, as operators like to say, "there is a train directly ahead of this one." I have used transit systems in many other cities, including Boston, New York and Prague, and I cannot recall another system in which mid-travel stops are so common. In Prague, for instance, trains never leave one station until the station ahead is open.
Wouldn't this policy help avoid tragic accidents like Monday's? It would have the additional benefit of reducing the possibility that passengers are stuck in tunnels -- rather than at stations, with exits -- during emergencies.
JOHN GRAMLICH
Washington
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Monday's tragedy was similar to a crash on Dec. 30, 1906, when a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad engineer missed a stop signal in dense fog at Takoma Park. His train ran into the rear of a train stopped at Terra Cotta station, killing 52 people. It happened very close to the site of Monday's tragedy.
DANIEL MILTON
Vienna
