The Real Deal: Metro's view to some media stories

Washington Post   07/21/2009, byline: L. Sun & L. Layton

Headline:
Metro Track circuits Failing Acrossthe System, Officials Say

Article:
The story by Lena Sun and Lyndsey Layton makes false claims that Metro’s train control system is failing.

The Real Deal:
The rail system is safe. The Washington Post\'s speculation that we have a widespread problem is a gross exaggeration.

Since last month\'s accident we began running a computerized report twice a day to take a closer look at track circuitry. We now run the test after each rush hour. We had been doing that test once a month. So basically we went from once every 30 days to 14 times a week or 56 times a month.

During these times, any little thing that we see, we follow up onimmediately. In some instances all that we have needed to do was make a simple adjustment. In other instances we took the circuits down to take a deeper look. In many instances the National Transportation Safety Board has accompanied us to these other few sites as well.

We have not found anything that resembles the magnitude of the track circuit problem at Fort Totten. As you probably recall, immediately after the collision, we checked all 3,000 track circuits. That involved us physically going to each circuit along the line and checking their physical condition. Those inspections went well. This computerized report that we are running after each rush hour is an added layer of inspection that we\'ve not done before. It\'s in line with the NTSB\'s recommendation and is the closest to real-time information that we are able to generate at this time. In the future we will have real-time information, but until then, this is how we\'re able to run data and review it in near-real-time status.

We hope that the public will have greater confidence in our working toward fulfilling the NTSB\'s recommendation of instituting greater review of our track circuits and eventually developing a real-time review.

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