Federal officials are pressuring Metro to take immediate steps, such as improving operator training and communication, to curb red-signal violations by its trains, a problem that has plagued the system for years and nearly led to a head-on collision last month.
In a sweeping report released Monday, the Federal Transit Administration issued an urgent safety directive with 11 corrective actions the agency must take, saying Metro hasn’t sufficiently trained its operators and controllers to understand its signal systems, hasn’t adopted the proper safeguards to prevent signal overruns and doesn’t conduct proper investigations when they happen.
Those lapses created significant risks: Three times since October, Metro trains or maintenance vehicles overran signals and came “within seconds” of striking passenger trains or Metro workers.
One of those incidents occurred last month when a Red Line train traveling near Glenmont station nearly struck two track workers before coming to a halt close to an oncoming train carrying passengers. The other two incidents occurred near Pentagon — one on Feb. 5 and the other in October.
“The FTA acknowledges [the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s] commitment to reducing the frequency of stop signal overrun incidents,” said Carolyn Flowers, acting administrator of the FTA. “But it must do better.”
With latest ‘near miss,’ Metro’s problems running red signals continue
In total, the Federal Transit Administration identified 68 stop-signal overruns between Jan. 1, 2012 and July 31 of this year. But the frequency of such occurrences has been ticking upward. Metro is averaging 1.43 stop signal overruns per month this year, its highest average since 2012, the FTA said.
With 10 stop-signal overruns documented so far, federal officials believe Metro is on pace to incur more violations this year than last.
“Luck has been on our side, with none of these violations to date resulting in serious damage or injury,” said Metro Board member Christian Dorsey, who represents Virginia. “But luck should not be a component of our safety plan.”
In the report, federal officials noted that Metro has already taken a number steps to curb the violations: Officials have revised the rules for train operations, beefed up training and supervision, worked to ensure that staff are using their radios properly, and installed new signs in rail yards with arrows that point in the direction of the signal.
Metro also is printing stickers displaying a checklist for operators to check before moving a train; those stickers are being placed on the consoles of operating cabs inside of trains.
Additionally, Metro officials are considering modifying the signal system so that trains automatically stop at red lights, even when they’re being operated in manual mode rather than automatic.
But even with these changes in the works, the FTA maintained in its report that “there is more that must be done.”
Metro said it would continue to work to address the problem.
“Metro has made significant progress in addressing this important issue as noted in the FTA report including changes to operating rules, training and signage,” Metro spokeswoman Sherri L. Ly said. “We will continue to work cooperatively with FTA on the corrective actions and will meet the deadlines in the Safety Directive.”
The FTA identified three primary reasons why red-signal violations occur. In 30 percent of cases, they said, train operators were unfamiliar with the tracks or the rail yard where they were operating. In 34 percent of cases, operators were inattentive or confused when leaving a train station and failed to notice the visual commands that tell them they don’t have permission to proceed.
But in 36 percent of cases, the FTA said, the red-signal violations came as a result of poor communication between operators and staff at the Rail Operations Control Center. The ROCC monitors trains in real time, similar to air traffic control.
“In these instances, radio communications were difficult to hear, communications did not follow required protocols” and radio commands weren’t properly dispatched, the report said.
The incidents also caused damage to the tracks. Eight of the signal overruns resulted in damage to switch components, the FTA said, mostly during single-tracking, when crossovers are used frequently.
“These incidents required track to be removed from service for repairs, and could have resulted in a derailment or intrusion into a work zone,” the FTA said.
The Metro board chairman, Jack Evans, said he remains concerned about the frequency of red-signal violations, but he also is heartened by the progress that Metro has made since the problem became apparent.
Evans met last week with some of Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld’s new leadership team, including the incoming chief safety officer and chief operating officer. Evans said he’s hopeful the new hires will help hasten efforts to beef up training protocol and improve communications between the ROCC and train operators.
“I feel we’re on the right track,” Evans said Monday. “But there has to be a sense of urgency that this must not happen again.”
Dorsey added that it’s vital to beef up disciplinary procedures against employees who violate signal regulations. He also wants to hear more about potential technology fixes that could help alert train operators who fail to notice they don’t have permission to proceed.
Board member Corbett A. Price, who has taken an especially severe tone with the agency of late, said managers and supervisors bear responsibility for any improper training that has resulted in red-signal overruns.
“It strikes me as gross incompetence that’s pervasive in this organization,” said Price, who represents the District. “They’re going to have to take some dramatic action to stem this.”
Price said he was thankful that none of the 68 red-signal overruns had resulted in collisions, but emphasized the urgency of fixing the problem.
“Deductive reasoning says that the more of these situations we have, it’s only a matter of time,” he said, pointing to another FTA report that came out last week. “They’re not getting to the root causes. They’re just reacting.”
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) called the FTA’s findings “disturbing,” and urged Metro to move quickly to incorporate the regulatory agency’s suggestions.
“Safety must be the number one priority at Metro,” Comstock said.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) said in a statement that the report “underscores what can go wrong when frontline employees don’t take seriously their role in protecting riders and fellow employees.”
“Unlike previous safety reports from the FTA, the challenge with red signal violations cannot be addressed simply by fixing a section of track or cables,” Connolly said. “These are human errors caused collectively by train operators and managers in the Rail Operations Control Center, who the FTA cited for unfamiliarity with signal locations, inattentiveness, and poor communication.”
[In scathing report, FTA blasts Metro’s track maintenance program]
The report is the second in a series of three investigations that the FTA has been conducting over the past year. Last week, the agency issued the results of its investigation into Metro’s track-maintenance program; it plans to issue another report in coming days on the third-rail power system.
In last week’s report, the FTA blasted Metro’s track inspection and repair protocol for “systemic safety deficiencies,” citing last month’s derailment of two rail cars as an example of how the agency continues to prioritize service over safety. It called for 12 corrective actions the agency must take.