Wider failure found in subway

WASHINGTON – The train control system designed to prevent Metro crashes is malfunctioning across the commuter railroad, suggesting that a technological failure at the heart of last month’s fatal crash might be widespread, according to officials and documents.

At least a half-dozen track circuits on four of the transit system’s five lines have failed to properly detect the presence of trains in recent weeks, records show. The safe operation of a transit system requires that the location of trains be known at all times.

In addition to the continuing failure of a track circuit at the accident site between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, the agency found “anomalies” in six other track circuits, Metro rail chief Dave Kubicek said.

Kubicek said Metro officials do not know what is causing the problems. He also said that none of the problems is anything close to the magnitude of the track circuit problem at the crash site.

Federal investigators have not pinpointed the cause of the crash, which killed nine and injured 80 when one train rammed into another between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations. The National Transportation Safety Board has said it appears that the train control system did not detect the stopped train and that the following train did not receive a command to slow or stop.