WMSC Issues Safety Audit of WMATA's Automatic Train Control, Signals Program

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January 22, 2024 Safety

WMSC Issues Safety Audit of WMATA’s Automatic Train Control, Signals Program

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail has implemented improvements to its automatic train control and signals program, but “is not carrying out some key safety commitments,” according to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission’s (WMSC) most recent safety audit, released Jan. 18. In addition to providing five findings and three recommendations for WMATA to address, WMSC outlined positive practices at the rapid transit system serving 98 stations in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

The audit (download below) took place in 2023. WMSC conducted in-depth interviews, site visits, and document and data reviews in March and April 2023, with additional follow up and document review in May and June 2023. The aim, it said, was to assess WMATA Metrorail inspection, maintenance, and engineering practices and procedures, and associated training for purposes of compliance with applicable plans, policies, regulations, and industry best practices.

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The audit provided five findings and three recommendations for WMATA to address. The findings are:

1. “Metrorail ATC [automatic train control] Maintenance personnel do not have a uniform understanding of Metrorail procedures, which leads to inadequate completion of safety tasks, such as inspections and handling of vital systems, that are required to ensure that track circuits and other elements of the ATC system function properly as required to prevent train collisions and to provide other designed safety protections.”
2. “Metrorail does not review, analyze, and act upon available safety data about the health and functionality of the Automatic Train Control system and subsystems as required by Metrorail’s Agency Safety Plan. Therefore, Metrorail’s ATC [automatic train control] Engineering cannot reliably or proactively determine whether or not the ATC system and subsystems are or will be functioning as designed to provide for the safety of riders and workers.”
3. “Metrorail is putting its personnel at risk due to health hazards such as damaged and repositioned materials marked as containing asbestos that are not being identified and managed as required by its Agency Safety Plan.”
4. “Metrorail is not systematically identifying, tracking, and mitigating hazards related to automatic train control and signaling as required by its Agency Safety Plan.”
5. “Metrorail is not maintaining its books of plans in accordance with its requirements.”

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