Updated 7:32 PM At a press briefing earlier this evening, Deborah Hersman, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said evidence at this point indicates the train operator applied the emergency brakes. The train was also operating in automatic mode which is the standard operating procedure for the Washington subway during rush hour.

Questions remain, however, about when the brakes were applied and if they functioned properly. Hersman also said the train operator had was relatively inexperienced, operating subway trains only since March.
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It was nearly 24 hours ago when one Washington Metro subway train crashed into another during rush hour, killing at least nine people.

And in that time some intriguing strands have emerged for crash investigators including this: the brakes on the train that caused the crash had brakes whose maintenance was overdue.

An excerpt from the Washington Post:

The Metro train car that slammed into another on the Red Line yesterday evening was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash, officials said today.

Nine people were killed in the crash, including five whose bodies were removed from the wreckage today. The accident was the deadliest in the 33-year history of Metro.

According to a Metro source knowledgeable about railcar maintenance, the first car of the striking train was two months behind on a scheduled maintenance for changing out brakes and brake components.

"These components are supposed to be changed out to prevent failures," the source said.

 

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on All Things Considered some other interesting information which emerged publicly earlier today, that the cars on the train that didn't stop were older and that the National Transportation Safety Board had recommended to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority that it either retrofit or retire those train cars.

An excerpt from Pam's report in which she mentions comments made by Deborah Hersman, an NTSB board member:

FESSLER: In fact, Hersman said — although it's too soon to tell what caused the accident — the NTSB raised concerns with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in 2006 about the safety of the older trains and their ability to withstand a crash.

HERSMAN: "We recommended to WMATA to either retrofit those cars or to phase them out of the fleet. They have not been able to do that and our recommendation was not addressed. So it has been closed in an unacceptable status."

FESSLER: But Metro's General Manager John Catoe responded that the transit agency still believes the trains are safe.

CATOE: "Any car that strikes another vehicle at a certain rate of speed and with a certain amount.of weight, you're going to have severe damage and compromising of the integrity of the structure. Again this is something we will review."

FESSLER: He said changes will be made if necessary, although it will likely be years before the old cars can be replaced, which is something the transit system was already planning to do.

Hersman said federal investigators will also be looking at the train signaling system and track conditions, as well as the evacuation of survivors.