WASHINGTON — Automated train service returns today (Sunday, Dec. 15) on one DC Metrorail line, the first time in 15 years the Automatic Train Operation system will be used on any portion of the six-line, 129-mile system.
Initially, the ATO system will be used only on the Red Line, the roughly U-shaped route between the Shady Grove station in Rockville, Md., and Glenmont in Silver Spring, Md. ATO will control acceleration, deceleration, and speed while onboard operators continue to control and monitor the opening and closing of doors, among other functions. Door control is also capable of automatic operation.
The return of ATO — disabled after a fatal collision in 2009, although it was eventually determined the system was not at fault — was approved last week by the independent Washington Metrorail Safety Commission [see “DC Metrorail gets approval …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 11, 2024]. At the time, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority indicated return today was likely; that was made official later in the week.
“Automatic train operations represent significant advancements in safety and efficiency for Metro customers and employees,” Don Drummer, principal director and chair of the Metro board of directors’ Safety and Operations Committee, said in a press release. “ATO also offers numerous advantages that contribute to an improved trip experience, increased reliability, cost savings, and more environmentally friendly train operations.”
Preparations for the return of ATO, the agency says, have included installment of a new, more reliable generation of track circuits, adjustment of track marker coils to track train location more precisely, and addition of train detection tools for train controllers.
WMATA plans to return ATO to the rest of the system in 2025, although that will require approval from the safety commission.
