Metro Train Death Toll Continues to Rise-Nine Dead In D.C. Metro Train Crash

Metro Train Death Toll Continues to Rise-Nine Dead In D.C. Metro Train Crash. After touring the wreckage Tuesday, after two Metro transit trains that crashed the day before, killing nine, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty stated that it was a sight that “no one should have to see. It just brings home what an awful tragedy this was,” the mayor stated.

(pic)Investigators work Tuesday at the site of a Metro train crash in Washington, that took nine lives.

Officials have declared that all the wreckage has been cleared and that no other bodies have been found in what was the worst subway train accident in the history of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Three remaining bodies were discovered Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009. They were lodged behind the driver’s compartment of the rear train, stated an official at the scene.

The Deceased Are Listed As:
Jeanice McMillan, 42, of Springfield, Virginia, the driver of that train. Ms. McMillan had worked at Metro since January 2007.
Mary Doolittle, 59 of Washington
Lavanda King, 23 of Washington
Dennis Hawkins, 64 of Washington
Ana Fernandez, 40, of Hyattsville, Maryland.

The Metro’s board has already approved a $250,000 hardship fund to assist the victims’ families with funerals and other immediate expenses.

The crash occurred at rush hour, along the Red Line just before 5 p.m. Monday, June 22nd, 2009, on an above ground track in the District of Columbia near Takoma Park, Maryland.

Both cars were on the same track, traveling in the same direction: southward from the Fort Totten Metrorail station to the Shady Grove station. The train in front had stopped behind another train undergoing service and awaited directions to move ahead.

“We don’t know at this point whether the operator could see the train in front of her in time to stop. The weather at the time of the crash was good,” said Deborah Hersman, who is leading the investigation for the National Transportation Safety Board.

“The safety board has long been on record making recommendations about survivability when accidents do happen to make sure that operators and passengers are protected as much as possible…but those haven’t been implemented,” Hersman stated.

“The safety board has urged called since 2006 for the transit authority to modernize its fleet of transit cars. The agency has sought more safety features and higher technology, such as data boxes on each car that can provide valuable information in case of a crash. Citing the most recent federal data, she said the average age of the cars in the fleet was 19.3 years old, Hersman continued.

The lead train in the crash contained 5000 Series and 3000 Series cars, which are newer and have better technology than the cars in the rear train, which were 1000 Series cars.

“The Metro board is “aggressively seeking” to replace 300 1000-Series cars purchased between 1974 and 1978,” stated Jim Graham, chairman of Metro’s board of directors.

Metro Train Death Toll Continues to Rise-Nine Dead In D.C. Metro Train Crash. There should have been nine data recorders aboard the first train, which will aid the investigation a great deal if they aren’t damaged, Hersman said. The recorders provide data on such things as speed, braking and emergency applications. She stated there were no recorders on the rear train.

“We’ve recommended for years that WMATA either retrofit those cars or phase them out of the fleet. They have not been able to do that. And our recommendation was not addressed, so it has been closed in an unacceptable status,” she stated.

“If there are changes we can make to those cars, we will do so,” said John Catoe Jr., general manager of the transit authority.

76 people were injured in the D.C. Metro crash, and two remain in critical condition, as of Tuesday. The condition of another critical patient has been upgraded and two of the injured were emergency rescuers.

For those who still travel using the Metro or Red Line…”All trains are to operate in manual, instead of automatic mode,” Catoe stated at a briefing. He declared the move “an extra safety precaution” until there is more information on the crash.”

“The rear train was operating on ‘automatic’ mode, which is routine during rush hour, and preliminary evidence shows that the driver may have employed the brakes,” Hersman stated.

Hersman addressed reports that the trains may have been two months past due on brake inspections, saying, “We are very interested in looking at those records, and we’re interested in looking at all of the records.”

She said cell phone and texting records would also be reviewed, which is standard.

“We’ve investigated a number of accidents where there were distractions,” she said, adding that it’s unknown whether cell phone use was a factor in this crash.

“Nine safety board teams are set up that will examine aspects such as train operations and communications, signals, tracks, crash-worthiness of equipment, maintenance and survivability, ease of fleeing the trains after the crash and other survivability factors,” Hersman stated.

On the other hand, the transit authority gave Red Line riders several options for commuting Tuesday morning and was providing free shuttle buses to drive people around the accident scene.

The only other time in Metrorail’s 33 year history that there were customer fatalities was in January of 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian Metrorail stations.

Many still remember when in 2004, two trains collided at the Woodley Park/Zoo-Adams Morgan Metrorail station, when there were minor injuries.
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