Interim Metro General Manager Richard Sarles has come under fire for the slow and inaccurate manner in which WMATA reported a near-incident on Wednesday to the Tri-State Oversight Committee, the organization which is responsible for monitoring safety on Metrorail. The Committee, represented by District Director of Transportation Gabe Klein, Maryland Secretary of Transportation Beverley K. Swaim-Staley and Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton, penned a letter to Sarles that calls Metro’s confused response to the incident “inexcusable,” and damns the agency’s “apparent internal and external communications breakdown.”

Metro reportedly took 27 hours to report the near-miss to the Committee.

On Wednesday morning at about 9 a.m., an operator of a northbound Red Line train hit his train’s emergency brake near the Wheaton station in order to avoid colliding with another train that was sitting on a platform at the station. No one was injured. A Metro spokesperson later admitted that “the investigation was delayed by some hours because the incident wasn’t communicated internally in a timely manner” and that “officials are looking into their communications procedures as part of the overall investigation” into the near-accident. Sarles told the Washington Post on Thursday that Metro had reported the incident to the Oversight Committee.

“Given the potential for such an occurrence to contribute to a catastrophic collision, similar to the June 22nd, 2009 incident, this clearly represented an unacceptable hazardous condition,” the letter scolded.

Due to the investigation into the incident, trains will be proceeding through the station one at a time, and at speeds not exceeding 15 miles per hour. Metro is conducting train testing in the area this morning.