Millions ride old, vulnerable rail cars on subways

[steven johnson]

Monday's subway accident in Washington, which killed nine people and injured more than 70 others,was fore shadowed when NTSB raised alarms in March 2006. Older model subway cars like the cars in Washington's system collapsed like an accordion in a 2004 accident.

This might not be the last tragedy if cars are not upgraded.

Millions of passengers in cities across the U.S. ride old subway cars like the ones that crumpled in the deadly crash in the nation's capital. The largest transit systems depend on such cars for more than one-third of their fleets, despite safety concerns expressed by federal investigators more than three years ago.

The NTSB raised alarms in March 2006 about older model subway cars after one of the cars in Washington's system collapsed like an accordion in a 2004 accident. The safety agency urged the Federal Transit Administration to develop crash standards that would address the telescoping of older cars and come up with a plan to remove aging trains that couldn't be structurally reinforced.

Old subway cars experience the worst damage — a loss of what the NTSB calls "survivable space" — in crashes because most aren't adequately reinforced for impact.

In Washington, Metrorail officials blame money. The system has 296 rail cars that were built more than 30 years ago, and it hasn't had enough money to cover the estimated $888 million needed to replace them, spokeswoman Candace Smith said.


Millions ride old, vulnerable rail cars on subways

[WestSeattle2]

1. I can't figure out what is so difficult about

keeping trains separated. What's up with that? For godsakes, they put collision avoidance systems in high-end passenger cars now, are they saying they can't put similar systems on passenger trains? Seems like once a year we have a major commuter train crash resulting in deaths and serious injury. Seems to me we need to replace engineers with technology.