Metro Train Operator Averts Accident With Emergency Break

VIA THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:

Metro experienced another near miss Wednesday morning when one Red Line train operator had to push his emergency brake to avoiding hitting another train ahead of it.

The incident is ringing alarm bells for how the agency’s safety system failed to stop the trains from getting so close again, but also why the agency did not notify its oversight group or begin investigating until Thursday.

“We have some concerns about the amount of time it took them to notify us,” Tri-State Oversight Committee Chairman Matt Bassett told the Washington Examiner. “Even though it didn’t cause an accident, it had the potential to cause a serious one.”

The incident occurred about 9 a.m. in the tunnel near the Wheaton station as one train operator spotted another train at the platform ahead, said spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.

The operator pushed the emergency brake known as the “mushroom,” spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said, “because he thought that his train may have been too close.”

The trains did not crash, and no one was hurt. Metro could not say how close the trains came, as officials were still conducting their investigation, which they did not begin until Thursday.

But Bassett said, “It was close enough it raised alarms and it was closer than it should have been.”

Read more here