by JDC
A press release from Metro: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/P ... aseID=5921
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
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Investigators “have found a number of other power-cable connector assemblies throughout” the subway that were “constructed without sealing sleeves,” the board said.My immediate reaction reading this report: WTF? These are power cables. You don't take shortcuts on this sort of stuff.
Contrary to its own engineering specifications, “WMATA has allowed maintenance crews and contractors to use various types of . . . sealing methods,” including “heat shrink tubing and electrical tape used in place of the sealing sleeves,” the NTSB said.
After a Feb. 11 smoke incident near the Court House station in Virginia, the board said, “investigators found that the failed power-cable connector assembly . . . was missing its sealing sleeve.” And after the Jan. 12 incident, the NTSB said, “even the post-accident repairs made to the power-cable connector assembly at L’Enfant Plaza did not include the sealing sleeves indicated in the WMATA engineering design specifications.”
In their letter to Metro, the 13 members who represent the Washington region in Congress gave the transit agency a 30-day deadline to set a timeline and cost for the work and to explain why Metro failed to follow its own procedures in the first place.Heads are going to roll.
“We are appalled that riders’ lives may have been put at risk simply because a small, yet critical component of the power cable connectors was not installed as required by the manufacturer’s directions and WMATA engineering specifications,” the members wrote. “Immediate action must be taken to protect the safety of all riders and ensure that we do not have repeated incidents.”
MCL1981 wrote:Have any heads rolled for this yet? I could be wrong, but I don't think I've read or heard about anything. As per usual, Metro has managed to hold nobody accountable for a major failure. They've blamed everyone but themselves. And they've talked a lot about how serious they take these things. The board has done nothing. Management has done nothing. The dead weight employees do nothing. And the comparatively few good workers have to suffer along with the passengers.I believe two people resigned, likely through pressure: the person operating Metro's track inspection vehicle that accidentally deleted the black flag warning for this section of track, and that person's supervisor.
MCL1981 wrote:Those two scapegoats were involved in the derailment. Nothing to do with the smoke incident in this thread.Opps. Absolutely correct. I assumed, clearly incorrectly, that the poster was asking about the derailment, not the smoke incident (despite the thread). My mistake!