Metro Crash Investigation Turns Up Electronic Control ‘Anomalies’

Federal investigators said yesterday that they found "anomalies" in a key component of the electronic control system along the Metro track north of Fort Totten, suggesting that computers might have sent one Red Line train crashing into another.

A senior Metro official knowledgeable about train operations said an internal report confirmed that the computer system appeared to have faltered.

Investigators stopped short yesterday of saying that the equipment malfunctioned or that it caused Monday’s crash, which killed nine people and injured 80. But Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators are looking closely at a 740-foot-long circuit near the crash site that malfunctioned during testing. "These circuits are vital," she said. "It’s a signal system. It’s providing information, authorization and speed commands to the following train."

Investigators are continuing to run tests, trying to determine whether the circuit failed to detect the train that was idling on the tracks north of the station and was rear-ended by a southbound train shortly after 5 p.m. Monday.

Hersman said investigators are also examining the actions of Jeanice McMillan, the novice operator of the striking train, who was among those killed in the wreck. The steel rails show evidence that McMillan activated the emergency brakes 300 to 400 feet before the pileup, which occurred on a curved section of track between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, Hersman said.

Source/Full Story: washingtonpost.com

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