The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s decision to sandwich its older cars between newer models, an early response to the Metrorail crash last summer, was intended primarily as a public relations move, according to a newly released letter addressed to a WMATA safety panel.
The decision to move the cars came after the June 22 Metrorail crash, in which an older model car collided with a stopped train ahead of it, killing nine people. WMATA decided to sandwich the cars seven days after the accident.
But Metro Safety Chief Alexa Dupigny-Samuels said in a letter to the Tri-State Oversight Committee that the move was to appease public worries about safety, rather than to actually increase safety on Metro trains.
The TSOC concluded from the letter that the change was only a PR move, and had little or nothing to do with safety.
WMATA board member Jeff McKay also said in an interview with The Washington Post that, although the move had no positive or negative impact on safety, WMATA felt it to be a necessary PR move. The primary concern, according to McKay, was not to establish scientific data, but to create a positive public image.
No studies had been performed on the Metro cars themselves, according to a WMATA press release.
However, the press release also mentioned some problems associated with the move of cars, including malfunctioning intercoms normally used to communicate with the train operators.
Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. defended the move prior to the release of the letter, stating in a June 30 news conference that the move was made to ensure that the trains would be as safe as possible in the event of another crash.
—JOSEPH KELLY
