DC Metrorail not ready for return of automatic operation, safety group says

WASHINGTON — The independent organization that oversees DC Metrorail safety issues says the rail transit system is not yet ready to return to the use of its automated operating system.

WRC-TV reports that the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission observed significant issues during recent overnight testing of Automatic Train Operation, which has been disabled on the Metrorail system since a fatal collision in 2009.

That testing included trains receiving commands to operate above their intended speed, and trains running through stations at full speed, according to the commission’s Paul Smith.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority originally aimed to reintroduce use of ATO on Metrorail’s Red Line this spring, followed by the rest of the system later this year [see “DC Metrorail seeks return …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 7, 2022]. WMATA says that will make for smoother rides and eliminate human-error problems such as trains overrunning station platforms or passing red signals.

But while WMATA says it has brought in representatives from systems in London and San Francisco to review its system, and is working with the safety commission to address concerns, it currently has no timetable for resuming use of ATO.

“I’m not rushing to a date to turn it on,” General Manager Randy Clarke told WRC. “It has to be right. All these things are kind of complementary. We want to get it right more than we care about a very specific date.”

Metrorail operated with ATO when it opened in 1976, but shut the system off after a June 2009 collision that killed nine people. It was not restored even though the National Transportation Safety Board found the ATO system was not at fault; the NTSB accident report did fault WMATA for a “failure to effectively maintain and monitor the performance of the ATO system.”