Recently-released federal reports shed light on Metro’s ongoing problems
About a year ago, the Federal Transit Administration took over Metro oversight. A year’s worth of inspection reports came out last week, and they’re full of details about Metro’s ongoing communication and maintenence problems.
Photo by Hannah Rosen on Flickr.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx gave the FTA oversight control of Metro in October 2015; the agency took over from the Tri-State Oversight Committee (TOC), which didn’t have the staffing or legal ability to require Metro to make major changes in response to inspections or issues found.
DC, Virginia, and Maryland are in the process of setting up a new oversight agency called the Metrorail Safety Commission, which will have the ability to fine WMATA over safety mishaps, suspend problem employees, and more.
The FTA reports help show what federal inspectors have been focusing on during their temporary oversight of Metro. Obviously, the system’s tracks receive most of the attention; over the months, there are a lot of notes about tie, fastener, switch, and other defects. But inspectors have also taken hard looks at train operator procedures, how thorough operators are when checking trains out of the yards, Rail Operations Control Center procedures, and radio coverage problems.
Communication is still a major problem for Metro workers
One issue that comes up multiple times in the reports is bad radio coverage— or a total lack of it— at some spots on Metro property. Inspectors noted two in particular: West Falls Church Yard and Greenbelt Yard, where trains are made, maintained, and dispatched for daily service.
During one inspection at Greenbelt in February 2016, the FTA inspectors noted that the yard’s interlocking operator (who controls the yard track and switches) and train operators (who come to the yard to inspect and take trains out for passenger service) developed a “work-around” for dead spots: using their personal cell phones to call the other in order to relay information— that’s a problem because operators are supposed to have their phones out of reach whenever at work to reduce chances of distraction.
If a cell phone wasn’t available, the train operator might have to exit the train and use one of the Emergency Trip Stations located next to the track in order to get in contact with the interlocking operator.
Bad radio communication at Greenbelt Yard requires train operators to use personal cell phones to call the Tower operator. Image from FTA.
Radio dead spots are a known issue for WMATA, and the agency created an internal map to help inform employees where they might be able to expect radio issues (and to help show any progress made in fixing dead spot issues). A dead spot near Farragut North and a switch issue may have led to two passengers self-evacuating from a train.
The report explains some intrusive single-tracking on the Red Line
These newly-released reports also help shed light on some of the fairly-vague reasoning Metro has given for some of its operational decisions. For example, in the spring/summer there was single-tracking in various spots between Grosvenor and Van Ness which led to delays during the day and in the evenings, due in part to what the FTA found or longer-running issues that they verified were still there. Defects they found in that section of track included “numerous tunnel leaks,” rotted or missing fasteners, standing water and mud, and more.
An insulator at Federal Center after an explosion that shut down Orange/Silver/Blue Line service during an evening rush hour in May.
There’s a ton of information in the FTA reports, and it’s worth spending a few minutes reading one or two. And beyond just info about the past year, the reports give us an idea of where FTA inspectors still need to work on the system. Not a lot of time seems to have been spent inspecting Metro’s power system, substations, and cabling, all of which have contributed to a number of issues, including the Federal Center SW fire, the recent fire at Metro Center, and the third rail problems that caused the day-long shutdown in March.
FTA inspectors are doing a lot more than what the TOC was ever able to do when it was charged with oversight of the agency, but there’s still a ways to go. As time continues, the inspections should continue to revisit known issues and monitor progress of fixes, and the inspectors shouldn’t hesitate to dig into any larger, systemic issues found over the course of their safety management of Metro.