Photo by Chris Rief

At the second day of the National Transportation Safety Board’s hearings of the January 12 smoke incident, no conclusions were reached about what, exactly, caused the fatal event.

“I think we are closer but, on the other hand, when we dig deeper and peel the onion then we see more things that need to be examined,” Christopher Hart, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said to reporters yesterday, WAMU reports.

Though the NTSB isn’t expected to issue its findings and final ruling for a few more months, the hearings painted a better picture of the number of communication and operational errors that sickened more than 80 passengers and caused the death of one. It took 35 minutes for rescuers to reach the Yellow Line train where dozens were stranded as it filled with smoke, which was due to miscommunication between the Metro operator, the Rail Operating Control Center, D.C. Fire and EMS, and Metro Transit Police.

But the biggest takeaway from yesterday’s hearing was how flawed Metro’s close-call reporting system is. From WAMU:

Metro leaders say they’re good at analyzing problems after they happen, but they’re trying to get better at diagnosing safety issues before they lead to accidents or injuries. Metro did establish an anonymous close-call reporting system so employees could call in potential problems that would otherwise go undetected.

Though, as the hearings found, that system isn’t without its fair share of flaws. Mostly because WMATA instituted a disciplinary system at the beginning of the year for reporting close calls. The system is supposed to be anonymous, but with the new disciplinary system, employees are afraid to report close-calls because they would get in trouble.

Additionally, there’s still a ton of safety concerns that need to be addressed. James Madaras, the chief safety officer for Metro’s union, the Amalgamated Transit Union testified on behalf of the system’s some 8,000 employees and voiced these concerns.

Also, this happened:

“For example, this one might seem funny. But it’s not funny. The next one is urinating on a bus. If that is an intentional act that is different than if someone has an accident,” Sumwalt said.

Madaras responded: “Urinating on a bus is an issue that we deal with on a regular basis and the reason it occurs is because there are not sufficient bathroom locations for the operators to relieve themselves in a dignified manner.”

Yes, that’s right: there aren’t enough bathrooms on Metrobus routes that operators frequently pee in their seats.

ATU Local 689 President Jackie Jeter issued a statement saying that “for years WMATA has been aware of the seriousness of the issue and has been slow to act on this issue and the lack of recovery time in runs.” But the issue isn’t just with Metrobus, Jeter says that train operators often “key down trains on platforms for bathroom breaks because of lengthy system delays that affect them, too.”

But the hearing ended with some optimism from Hart. “I don’t think any system is not fixable,” he said. “It is just a question of putting adequate resources and talent to the job and I think Metro has that. If they prioritize their resources properly, I think they can do that.”