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WMATA board ‘outraged and dismayed’ over events leading to Aug. 6 derailment
Contrast incident counts on WMATA vs. BART. Roughly the same technology and same age. The picture this paints is one of serious mismanagement at WMATA.
If this was a private operation; someone would be unemployed
Doubtless those found culpable will be promoted and transferred to other areas of responsibility. As a federal employee myself, I’m saying that only partly in jest. It used to be that the only sensible way to travel around DC was the Metro, if your destination was close to a station. I’m no longer sure it’s the safest way. Give bureaucrats long enough and they’ll screw up everything they touch.
Mr Bouzide, I would wonder about oversight. BART has to answer to the California Public Utilities Commission(PUC or CalPUC). During the 70’s the PUC exerted its authority to regulate safety on BART. The PUC had a considerable history and ability to oversee safety on railways. The result a safer BART where safety issues were addressed not swept under the rug and ignored.
Who is overseeing WMATA? Rohr built the cars for both systems & IIRC Westinghouse installed the signal and control systems for both.
Fear of retaliation or retribution inhibits problem reporting up a chain of command, those lower down fearing being wrongly blamed for the matter. All too often a climate of fear comes to rule parts of an organization, bureau, company, etc. Why stick your neck out to get your head chopped off?
The richly rewarded.
The day after this derailment, my grandsons and I boarded a red line WMATA train at Union Station a little after 6 p.m. The station was filled with acrid smoke that smelled like an electrical fire. An east bound train was stopped at the station with doors open and no passengers. A west bound train was boarding, and I decided to get on. We sat there for several minutes with the smoke getting thicker. Passengers continued to board. At length, the doors closed and we moved on to the next station where the operator (a woman) announced the last car on our train was on fire and that she was leaving the train. Inside, the train was still quite smoky, but there was no direction to evacuate passengers. A couple minutes later, the operator announced she was back on board, the doors closed and we took off. The smoke gradually cleared, and we got off at our station.
There was no further explanation. It is obvious that WMATA needs an infusion of capital to begin renewing a system that now is over 40 years old.
Mr. Graham, your comment assumes that the money they have now is well spent. I’d be willing to bet that a financial audit of WMATA would reveal gross mismanagement and misuse. Having said that, I am horrified to read your account of your experience. I’m glad you and your fellow travelers survived the ordeal.
Mr. Larson also makes a great point, and I can vouch for that personally. Rocking the boat makes upper management look bad - deservedly so - and they become “unhappy”. And since we’re talking about the District of Columbia, I have to assume that WMATA is only accountable to Congress. Doesn’t that just give you a case of the warm fuzzies? I wonder what the acceptable number is for passenger deaths before anyone actually addresses the problems? No doubt if Senator Blumenthal lowered himself to actually mingle with the Great Unwashed and ride a Metro that was on fire, he’d take action to assure that he never had to ride the subway again.