CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A rail traffic controller fired by the Charlotte Area Transit System is suing the city of Charlotte, saying he was terminated for reporting a light-rail derailment that remained unknown to city officials for almost a year.
Meanwhile, Queen City News, the website of WJZY-TV, reports another CATS light rail train derailed at the agency’s yard on Wednesday.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Terry Creech accuses CATS management of wrongful and hostile termination, and in retaliation for reporting the May 2022 derailment. He was fired last June. In the suit, Creech accuses the city of concealing information and evidence related to the derailment.
No one was hurt in the May 2022 derailment, which became public only in March of this year, when the acting CEO of CATS told city officials he had just learned of it. The derailment was attributed to a problem with wheel bearings that will require replacement of bearings across the entire light-rail fleet, at a cost of $20 million. That issue, and subsequent discoveries that the agency had failed to perform routine maintenance and inspections, have led to significant criticism [see “Charlotte commission votes for investigation …,” Trains News Wire, March 23, 2023].
Creech’s termination letter, viewed by the Observer, said that Creech’s actions did not contribute to the derailment, but that he committed two safety violations afterward, and that three violations were cause for termination. The third violation involved is unclear, the newspaper reported.
Derailment in CATS yard
A CATS official told WJZY-TV that the derailment on Wednesday morning involved a train moving at 5 mph while undergoing testing after routine maintenance at the system’s Light Rail Facility South Yard. A CATS official told the station it is too soon to know or speculate on the cause of the derailment; the North Carolina Department of Transportation said in a statement that it was informed of the derailment by CATS, and both the local and state agencies are investigating.
The source who informed the station of the derailment claimed the derailment was caused by the same wheel-bearing problem that led to the May 2022 derailment.
This sad. Starting to sound like WMATA in DC. I’ve used CATS buses and trains and am extremely disappointed in an apparent lack of responsible management.
“but that he committed two safety violations afterward”
– He publicly reported a safety event when not authorized to do so
– He probably neglected to report the safety event through the CATS Safety Officer
I am guessing these are the two violations.