Photo by Adam Fagen.
WMATA is taking the next steps in bringing back computer-driven trains to the Metro system for the first time since the 2009 crash that killed nine people.
Beginning next month, a half-dozen Red Line trains will begin automatic train operation during non-peak hours, the Post reports. With ATO, instead of manually driven trains, computers will guide trains along the track, smoothly braking and accelerating as necessary. This will mark the first time Metro has used ATO since the deadly Metro crash on the Red Line in 2009, which was caused by “electronic flaws” on a train using automatic train operation.
But Metro General Manager Richard Sarles says that Metro has taken the necessary steps and spent enough time to ensure that such a failure to cause the catastrophic crash won’t happen again. “Symbolically, it’s an important sign of all the work we’ve done over the last four or five years to bring the [transit] system back to where it should be,” Sarles told the Post.
According to a WMATA report, the ATO system “is capable of operating trains in automatic mode by maintaining train separation, automatic routing based on destination, stopping at
platforms, and opening train doors,” and was the standard mode of operation prior to June 22, 2009. After the crash, WMATA suspended use of ATO, instead requiring all trains to be driven manually.
This has resulted in the common frustration many riders experience with Metro: increased delays; jerky stops and starts; trains holding at platforms; etc. According to Metro’s new report, all Red Line trains will be driven by computers by Spring of 2015.
But that doesn’t mean they will be without an operator. Like it was in 2009, each train will still have an operator who will be in charge of “opening and closing doors, making announcements, and keeping an eye out for trouble on the tracks ahead.” Although many are still wary of ATO trains since the crash, Sarles says that he didn’t give a timeline as to when Metro would be ready to use computer-operated trains, so that Metro workers wouldn’t feel like they were on a deadline to rush and fix all the problems that contributed to the 2009 crash.
After ATO is implemented in the Red Line, Metro says they’ll start implementing it to the rest of the lines beginning in Fall of 2017. You can read the full report below:
