![]() ![]() Metro appears to have followed those recommendations. And, most recently, a Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) oversight safety audit reported that groups that should be working together on returning ATO to normal operation aren’t collaborating.Ī 2018 report by engineering firm Mott Macdonald laid out a number of steps Metro would need to implement before returning to ATO, including new training, procedure and rule modifications, and train and wayside equipment verification. Many train operators that have used ATO outside of training are no longer operating trains the Automatic Train Control (ATC) departments that engineer and maintain the signaling system are struggling to stay fully staffed new safety procedures protecting workers on the tracks conflict with how ATO is managed and rule changes are also needed. The to-do list standing between Metro and a return to ATO isn’t short.ĪTO has been off long enough system-wide that the amount of time elapsed presents its own problems. Metro “piloted” ATO on the Red Line briefly in 2015 before turning it back off. Restoring ATO while maintaining the existing equipment provides benefits while limiting the scope and cost of work that Metro would need to perform. ![]() The system provides a smoother ride for passengers, and can reduce the workload of the rail controllers who govern the movement of trains. ![]() Metro actually does have plans to restore ATO. Path number one: Work to restore ATO on the existing system Now, Metro is considering two paths that could finally bring ATO back in some form. The SafeTrack program was born soon thereafter to replace miles of track, cables, and thousands of rail ties and fasteners. The death of a rider, back-to-back derailments in 20, the resignation of the agency’s Chief Safety Officer, and a new General Manager led the agency to prioritize the safety of the tracks its trains ran on. Metro had “more pressing concerns” to attend to, it said in 2017. An effort to restore ATO began in 2014 and resulted in the system briefly being reenabled on the Red Line in 2015 for a few months. The agency stayed mum about when ATO might return, even after the NTSB determined it wasn’t at fault, and the system has remained mostly off. ![]() “The ride will not be as smooth,” cautioned then-Metro General Manager John Catoe, “but this precaution is necessary until the investigation and our review of the system operation provide us more information.” Within a day of the incident, without waiting for the lengthy National Transportation Safety Board investigation to wrap up, Metro took several reactionary steps that included turning off the ATO system, instructing all train operators to switch to manual operations.ĭisabling ATO was publicly described as a temporary measure, a suspension that could be undone at some point in the future. Inbound Red Line Train 112 crashed into the back of another train holding outside the Fort Totten station, killing eight passengers and the operator of the striking train. The Metro system was designed with automation in mind and opened in 1976 with ATO as the primary mode of train operation during morning and evening rush hour periods. Four General Managers later, the agency appears to have viable paths towards not just reenabling Automatic Train Operation (ATO), but potentially a giant signal system replacement, assuming groups inside the agency play nicely with each other.Īutomatic Train Operation wasn’t intended to be off this long By then, agency priority changes and time elapsed meant the system stayed off. The fatal Fort Totten crash in 2009 led Metro to disable the system, only later to find out that it wasn’t the cause (a different part of the agency’s signal system was). It’s been twelve years since Metro trains were primarily computer-operated, not driven manually by human operators. Metro track workers outside Twinbrook by WMATA. ![]()
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