Personal Injury Law

Metro Control System Fails

By Victor E. Long, Esq.

According to the Washington Post, a train control system that should have prevented Monday's deadly Metro crash failed in a test conducted by federal investigators, officials said yesterday, suggesting that a crucial breakdown of technology sent one train slamming into another.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board performed the simulation Wednesday night. In the test, investigators positioned a train in the same location as the train that was rear-ended Monday. The system failed to detect that the idled test train was there, the NTSB said. Investigators did not say what caused the malfunction, and they stopped short of saying the system failure caused the crash.

The test results are significant because they confirmed earlier findings of "anomalies" in an electrical track circuit in the crash area.

Information regarding the accident has previsously been provided in several earlier posts.

Full post as published by DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog on June 26, 2009 (boomark / email).