Posted on 06/24/2009 3:49:46 PM PDT by NCjim
A key circuit on the train track near Monday's derailment in Washington, D.C., was apparently not operating as it should have been, raising the possibility that the Metro train that crashed into another one may not have known to slow down, accident investigators said today.
Investigators tested six circuits between the two stations where the crash occurred. Five of those performed as expected, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Deborah Hersman. Such circuits let trains know how fast to go and provide them with information about whether there's another train up ahead.
But one circuit showed what Hersman described as an "anomaly" and monitored a 740-foot section of the track. Investigators are putting a stand-in train on the track tonight to conduct additional tests.
The NTSB also said it has now looked at train records and found no indications of overdue maintenance despite earlier reports that the brakes on the train may have been behind schedule for a check-up. The train was last examined in late May.
Nine people died and another 76 were taken to area hospitals when one Metro train struck a stopped train in front of it near the Fort Totten station on the city's red line. The train that was struck was pushed forward about seven feet, Hersman said today.
Earlier this morning, Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty said the blame for the crash should fall "squarely" on local officials.
"We do have an independent train system ... [but] let's not try and disperse the blame. Let's put it on the decision makers and the leaders," Fenty said on "Good Morning America".
...
The National Transportation Safety Board had twice warned that trains like the ones involved in the Monday wreck could be dangerous to passengers.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
All you had to do to determine it didn’t slow down was look at the footage of the crash.
ping
An anomaly? Someone’s been watching Primeval.
Any strange creatures about - other than 'RATS, that is?
I don’t know, I haven’t been to DC but I’ve seem some pretty strange creatures here in S. FL....
No sense waiting around to know what actually caused it. There's blamin' to be done!
“Key Track Circuit, Ramius wrote: Mayor Adrian Fenty said the blame for the crash should fall “squarely” on local officials.”
So the Mayor wants us to blame him?
Nope. He'll probably suggest the blame belongs with the metro board or the council of governments but definitely not him.
The more I read, it seems the lady conductor is in the clear completely, if fact, she was heroic in trying to stop the train before her death.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
“The National Transportation Safety Board had twice warned that trains like the ones involved in the Monday wreck could be dangerous to passengers.”
More and more, this is looking illogical. Seems to me the safety of the cars had nothing to do with this accident.
But, safety NAZIs/paranoids constantly harp on some non-sequitur anyway, so I guess I shouldn’t be shocked.
No doubt the fault will be placed squarely on the shoulders of...
lack of funding to provide the latest safety equipment. That spot on the Red line is a radio dead zone, and that is why the operator did not get calls for her to stop the train. Also, the track there is curved and the operator cannot see clearly far enough ahead to react.
The faulty track equipment, causing the malfunction, was the only means she had of knowing that a train was ahead. That, being faulty, never let her know of the stopped train.
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