Is there news yet of what caused the horrific DC Metro train crash?
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and has assigned a railroad investigator and two specialists from its office of transportation disaster assistance. Investigators will probably focus on a failure of Metro’s computerized signal system, designed to prevent trains from coming close enough to collide, as well as operator error, according to former Metro officials. The system relies on electronic relays — each about the size of a hardcover book — aboard trains and buried beside the tracks along each line. When a train gets too close to another train, the system is designed to automatically stop the approaching train. It should work whether trains are being operated manually or by computer. But even if the signal system failed to stop the train, the operator should have intervened and applied emergency brakes, safety experts familiar with Metro’s operations told the Post. Sources:
