Death on the Tracks

IN METRO'S first 29 years of operations, three of its workers were struck and killed by trains on the tracks. Another three have died in just the past 14 months, including Leslie A. Cherry Jr., who was killed Thursday morning by a Yellow Line train near Alexandria's Eisenhower Avenue Station. Another track worker was badly injured in the accident. Something is wrong with safety procedures at the transit agency.

Accidents happen, and no transit system is free of them, but three deaths do not amount to just a tragedy; they begin to look like a pattern. In New York, where the subway system has six times more track miles than Metro, there hasn't been a fatality involving an employee on the tracks in several years. It's time for a tough, thorough review of Metro's rules pertaining to train operators, track inspectors and other employees whose work takes them near the tracks.

After a fatal accident involving a Metro worker who was struck and killed by a train in October 2005 near Braddock Road Station, the transit agency ordered additional safety training for 3,600 rail operations employees. Then, following another such fatality in May near Dupont Circle Station, Metro tightened safety procedures, including rules governing the speed of trains approaching work sites. Now, in the wake of Thursday's accident, it's clear that the message is flawed or somebody is not getting it. In either case, it's time for a fix.

In the case of Mr. Cherry, the National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation, but the results will take the better part of a year. He was a 29-year Metro employee and an experienced track inspector; it's hard to understand what led to his death. The operator of the train that hit him sounded the horn from a distance of two football fields, 12 seconds before the accident, but did not hit the brakes for at least another 10 seconds. Why not?

Mark Rosenker, the safety board's chairman, is on the money when he says that three fatal accidents in 14 months is an unacceptable record. So is Betty Waldron, widow of 47-year-old Michael Waldron, who was killed in the Braddock Road Station accident. Upon hearing of Thursday's fatality, she told The Post, "I can't believe they have destroyed another family."