Metrorail Safety Gaps Identified By Washington Metrorail Safety Commission Audit

WASHINGTON, DC — An audit conducted by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission found that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Metrorail system is not meeting its own safety requirements.

"This audit demonstrates a number of areas where Metrorail is not meeting its own written requirements, does not have adequate procedures, processes or requirements, or does not have adequate training, coordination and supervision," says the report, which was released Thursday morning.

Based on interviews with Metrorail employees, site visits and document reviews, WMSC determined that elements of the rail system exhibited a culture of "noncompliance with written operational rules, instructions, and manuals." As such, it failed to "effectively, identify, track, communicate, and address operational hazards," as required under its Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan.

The audit, which was released Thursday morning, identified the following safety gaps in the rail system's operations:

• "Metrorail creates safety risks by not requiring and conducting territory familiarization and physical characteristics training, and not assessing knowledge of physical characteristics prior to assigning operations personnel work on a line, in a terminal or in a yard.
• "Metrorail is not meeting its operational refresher training and recertification requirements.
• "Metrorail is not effectively training and certifying personnel authorized to operate trains on all active railcar fleets.
• "Metrorail has not documented procedures for terminal supervisors, and has not established the effective formal training for terminal supervisors needed to safely perform their duties.
• "Metrorail does not have documented criteria to determine student proficiency in practical demonstrations of safety-critical operational tasks.
• "Metrorail does not conduct effective oversight of training instructors.
• "Metrorail does not ensure personnel serving as on-the-job training instructors, including those personnel described as line platform instructors (LPIs), are effective and have specific training and direction on what to teach and how to assess their assigned students."

In addition to these safety gaps, WMSC reported that with frequent temporary and permanent updates to outdated versions of the Metrorail's rulebook, train operators are unable to easily keep track of the latest rule changes. This is problematic because all personnel ares required to carry the latest version of the Metrorail Safety Rules and Procedures Handbook.

"Other findings in this audit include that Metrorail does not provide safety oversight of all safety equipment that is or may be past its calibration date that may be in use by operations personnel," the report says. "Specifically, the WMSC observed electrical safety gloves past their calibration date in the field. Supervisors stated they did not know the gloves had calibration dates."

The 60-page report goes on to describe in detail WMSC's findings and offers a number of recommendations for WMATA to adopt. The transit agency has 30 days to come up with a Corrective Action Plan in response to the audit's recommendations.

Despite all of the problems identified in the report, WMSC did find that WMATA had taken some positive steps recently toward improving training and safety. These included restoring 30-day, 60 day and 90 classes for new train operators, having greater collaboration between Department of Rail Transportation managers, and installing CCTV systems at several curved station platforms.

Metrorail has been under increased scrutiny since a Blue Line train derailed on Oct. 12, 2021 between the Rosslyn and Arlington National Cemetery stations in Virginia. A subsequent investigation revealed problems with the wheel axle assembly of Metro's 7000 series railcars, forcing WMATA to sideline nearly 60 percent of its fleet.

Although WMATA attempted to reintroduce the 7000 series trains to service in December, WMSC ordered the transit authority to cease the process until it had identified a way continue the process safely.

In a March 24 letter to WMSC, WMATA said it had revised its manual inspection program for the 7000 series trains.

"This protocol will utilize digital equipment capable of performing measurements at the level of precision required to support our inspection efforts," WMATA's letter says. "Metro intends to deploy this process as part of a phased return to service of a limited number of 7000 series cars to improve reliability and reduce crowding."

WMATA has also begun installing Automatic Wayside Inspection Systems that will provide real-time and ongoing wheel measurements.

"As we install, test, configure, and commission these units, we intend to transition the manual inspection processes to less frequent intervals," the letter says. "Metro also intends for the manual process to remain as a redundant process to support AWIS in the event the systems are taken offline for maintenance or upgrade. The implementation of the AWIS systems is critical to the safe return of 7000 series trains to service, which also permits better headways."