Feds: Poor maintenance led to fatal DC subway fire

WASHINGTON — A fire that caused a Washington subway train to fill with smoke inside a downtown tunnel last year, killing one passenger and sickening dozens, can be traced to poor maintenance and ineffective inspection practices by the city’s beleaguered transit authority, federal investigators said Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its final report on the January 2015 fire at a meeting on Tuesday, placing the blame on the Metro transit authority for failing to properly install and maintain third-rail power cables, causing them to become damaged by water and other contaminants.

The NTSB also faulted Metro for a lack of smoke detectors in its tunnels, for ventilation fans that didn’t work properly and for not training its employees on how to use the fans. It also blamed the District of Columbia’s fire department and its 911 call center for delays in responding to the fire. Passengers waited on the smoke-filled train for more than 30 minutes before the first emergency responders arrived.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said Metro did not make meaningful safety improvements between a deadly collision in 2009 and the 2015 fire, and investigators said some of the system’s safety problems date back to its first fatal accident in 1982.

The 2009 crash between two trains was the worst in Metro’s history, killing nine people. The board made several recommendations to Metro after that crash, but Hart said its warnings were not heeded.

“Little or no progress has been made toward building a meaningful safety culture,” Hart said, later adding: “When the NTSB finds itself issuing a continuous stream of accident reports to address the basic safety management of a single transit rail system, something is fundamentally flawed. Here, that something is safety oversight.”

Most of the facts surrounding the 2015 accident had already been made public by the NTSB. One disturbing detail that emerged at Tuesday’s meeting, however, was that Metro lacked any way to pinpoint the location of smoke or fire in the system’s tunnels and that trains full of passengers were routinely sent into tunnels to figure out where smoke was coming from. That practice has been discontinued and trains are now offloaded before operators move them into tunnels with possible smoke or fire, Metro general manager Paul Wiedefeld said Tuesday.

“This just seems reprehensible,” said Bella Dinh-Zarr, the board’s vice chairman. “The use of inadequately trained (Metro) employees and passengers as essentially canaries in the tunnel, that seems a very dangerous and risky practice.”

After the meeting, Hart said there was no evidence that the train in the 2015 accident was sent to investigate the source of smoke. Instead, he said, the operator continued into the tunnel despite the presence of smoke.

Metro’s standard operating procedures call for all trains to be stopped after a report of smoke, investigators said. But that wasn’t done, and the train was unable to back up into the L’Enfant Plaza station in part because another train was sitting on the platform behind it.

Carol Glover, 61, a federal employee from Alexandria, Virginia, who was on her way home from work, died after being stranded on the smoke-filled train. Her sons have filed a lawsuit against Metro.

In March, a similar fire that broke out before the system began carrying passengers for the day prompted Wiedefeld to shut down the entire system for more than 24 hours to conduct emergency inspections. Surveillance videos of that fire, in which large flashes could be seen inside a tunnel at the McPherson Square station near the White House, were made public during Tuesday’s meeting.

Since the 2015 fire, the U.S. Department of Transportation has temporarily granted safety oversight of Metro to the Federal Transit Administration. Hart and other NTSB members criticized that move, saying that Metro should be overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration, which has stronger enforcement powers, including the ability to punish rail networks for violations. Placing Metro under the railroad agency’s oversight would require action by Congress.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Vehicles travel along Mukilteo Speedway on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Mukilteo cameras go live to curb speeding on Speedway

Starting Friday, an automated traffic camera system will cover four blocks of Mukilteo Speedway. A 30-day warning period is in place.

Carli Brockman lets her daughter Carli, 2, help push her ballot into the ballot drop box on the Snohomish County Campus on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Here’s who filed for the primary election in Snohomish County

Positions with three or more candidates will go to voters Aug. 5 to determine final contenders for the Nov. 4 general election.

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

A person walks past Laura Haddad’s “Cloud” sculpture before boarding a Link car on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024 in SeaTac, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Sound Transit seeks input on Everett bike, pedestrian improvements

The transit agency is looking for feedback about infrastructure improvements around new light rail stations.

A standard jet fuel, left, burns with extensive smoke output while a 50 percent SAF drop-in jet fuel, right, puts off less smoke during a demonstration of the difference in fuel emissions on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Sustainable aviation fuel center gets funding boost

A planned research and development center focused on sustainable aviation… Continue reading

Dani Mundell, the athletic director at Everett Public Schools, at Everett Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Will Geschke / The Herald)
Everett Public Schools to launch girls flag football as varsity sport

The first season will take place in the 2025-26 school year during the winter.

Clothing Optional performs at the Fisherman's Village Music Festival on Thursday, May 15 in Everett, Washington. (Will Geschke / The Herald)
Everett gets its fill of music at Fisherman’s Village

The annual downtown music festival began Thursday and will continue until the early hours of Sunday.

Seen here are the blue pens Gov. Bob Ferguson uses to sign bills. Companies and other interest groups are hoping he’ll opt for red veto ink on a range of tax bills. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
Tesla, Netflix, Philip Morris among those pushing WA governor for tax vetoes

Gov. Bob Ferguson is getting lots of requests to reject new taxes ahead of a Tuesday deadline for him to act on bills.

Jerry Cornfield / Washington State Standard
A new law in Washington will assure students are offered special education services until they are 22. State Sen. Adrian Cortes, D-Battle Ground, a special education teacher, was the sponsor. He spoke of the need for increased funding and support for public schools at a February rally of educators, parents and students at the Washington state Capitol.
Washington will offer special education to students longer under new law

A new law triggered by a lawsuit will ensure public school students… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.