Deadly Washington DC Metro Train Crash | Plainly Difficult | Short Documentary

[@PlainlyDifficult]

►Thanks for watching, check out me other bits! ►My new Album: madebyjohn.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-archiv-1 ►Outro Song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJPTnn2AjdaGhsksi=2_i6bKZUj3bjixzw ►Instagram: instagram.com/plainly.john/ ►Patreon: www.patreon.com/Plainlydifficult ►Merch: plainly-difficult.creator-spring.com ►Twitter:twitter.com/Plainly_D ►Sauces Used to Cook this video: www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/rar9604.pdf www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/reports/rar1002.pdf www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/10-years-later-metro-crash-remembered/149057/ www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/red-line-crash/crash.html www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/red-line-crash/ edition.cnn.com/2009/US/06/23/washington.metro.crash/index.html www.wmata.com/about/news/pressreleasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=4579

[@fredashay]

What's the little black and white stripey box on the upper right corner of your videos for?

[@GearGuardianGaming]

i think this is the most graphic one you have covered, at least in the pictures you added.

[@cjmillsnun]

@@fredashay In UK Television it signals an ad break.

[@inerlogic]

Did you say "raging hard-on?" Yikes....

[@stefansoder6903]

As a railway person, when I heard "the train was not detected by the track circuit" my blood chilled. Everything depends on trains being detected by the signalling system!

[@SteveW139]

Clapham Junction springs horribly to mind

[@CiaranMaxwell]

If the signaling system fails, only the Mk I Human Eyeball can prevent the inevitable. If there's a curve in the tracks, as there was here... there is no stopping it. This is why regular maintenance and testing is essential.

[@Khayreee]

Dc metro is very smooth when automatic comes back it will be a even better system

[@mmmikeyyy]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but a system that relies on train detection but doesn't react to a train suddenly disappearing from the system is something I'd expect from a junior designer working without supervision.

[@latestarter7761]

@@mmmikeyyythat was my thought too. The control system should know the train is there somewhere, even if it doesn’t know the exact location. I would expect a local shutdown at the last known location until it “sees” it again

[@samueldavila2156]

Hi John, the Mexico City metro underground is a gold mine of disasters. Also the "Maya Train" built on the jungle became a mega disaster even before it started operating.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestions I’ll have to dig in!!

[@samueldavila2156]

There has been fires on the tubes, the control center burned to the ground, several train rearendings, runaways, the line 12 elevated segments falling down, golden line needing rebuilding due to rails not matching the carriage wheels geometry, warped rails, flooding, etc. A mayhem, destruction and 💀 galore!

[@Onora619]

oooo I'd like to learn more about the Maya Train!

[@SUPERBOBESPONJA1000]

Man i use line 8 and i swear it gets worse and worse per day

[@Nadia1989]

I'm afraid you'll need to disable comments if you ever cover Tren Maya. A channel that covered it got the comment section filled with insults and it got so out of control they disabled them.

[@patrickvolk7031]

I like your content, but you missed some major things from the NTSB report: 1) There were multiple track circuits showing 'floating' behavior in the system where they would not show occupancy 2) The ATP system does not send a speed code if it doesn't detect a train in the block, most of the time they would coast through. That's why the train got stuck. 3) WMATA had a program to monitor for floating tracks, but they maybe checked it once a day. All they were pretty much doing is recording them at that point (literally would detect if a train disappeared for 3 seconds). 4) The track circuit wnedor was notified, but they were claiming it was other work done on the system that was responsible. 5) After the accident, suspect track circuits were tested. For worker safety, you put a shunt strap on the track to trigger an occupancy. They tried putting it at either end, and in the middle, and the problem (no occupancy) still occurred. 6) They removed the track completely, which should mean the signal does not pass through, but it did act like the track was unoccupied. This pointed to the transmitter/receiver units for the track circuits and not the impedance bonds or rail. 7) It was noticed on replacement, that newer track circuit receivers were equipped with ferrite chokes. These are used to absorb high frequency noise. 8) On detailed testing, it was discovered the power supply was putting interference like in the 5MHz range, which was feeding to the receiver and getting through the frequency filter to detect the track circuit signal (which were in the 2000-7000Hz range, like 7 different frequencies that didn't have common harmonics, usual for track circuit design, adjoining circuits leak a little past the impedance bond, but because it's a different frequency it doesn't affect neighboring tracks). 9) The power supply was generating signals at very high frequency that were causing the floating track phenomena. 10) WMATA tolerated floating track circuits which is a wrong-side failure. They couldn't shut the system down, and were getting finger-pointing from their vendors. This is very much a classic chain-of-failure, where problems were tolerated, some ineffectual measures were taken, people dug in their heels instead of looking at the problem, and the closeness of previous incidents was downplayed. I had to verify a software checking solution WMATA made after the accident to verify the track circuits were being monitored in real time, and would force manual operation if anything was out of the ordinary. Putting the chokes on the power and circuit feeds (which are literally .05 parts if that) took care of the problem. Another vendor was replacing the impedance bonds, and was retuning the circuits. Suffice to say, I had to read the NTSB report. I know some people who gave depositions for this, and were on the NTSB investigation side, but it's all from the report. The speed commands are defined by route -and-aspect charts, where the speed you get depends if you're taking a switch, and how many free blocks you have in front of you. WMATA's signals are 2-white meaning follow cab commands, or red for stop. That's not uncommon, the Northeast Corridor in the US uses a flashing green for speeds above 80 which come from the ATC system. The speed commands also take into account civil restrictions (e.g. curves), I've had to adjust them before for noise abatement (and WMATA lowered the max speed from 55 after Ft. Totten)

[@crusinscamp]

Thanks for the detailed post (down to the filter component used to fix the problem!).

[@michaelimbesi2314]

This is great information. It’s a shame that WMATA’s response to this incident was to change a whole bunch of things that didn’t cause the accident but made service worse, instead of recognizing that the problem was caused by lack of maintenance.

[@patrickvolk7031]

@@michaelimbesi2314 The problem is identifying it, and being able to work around it. It was a general occurrence, and normal troubleshooting didn't give any indication. It was not lack of maintenance. It was a design oversight. Nobody expected that such high frequencies would tickle the receiver like it did. You'd see maybe some noise in the circuit like a wide line on the oscilloscope. If you ask to shut down many parts of the system, you're going to be asked why. I know that ain't going to go far. It will make the news, and put political people in tough positions.

[@patrickvolk7031]

@michaelimbesi2314 I also can say the program they wrote to monitor the tracks after the incident was mathematically very good. They used linear programming to model the occupancies, and it would alert at a safe threshold of error. I didn't know Perl had that much heavy math stuff.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@patrickvolk7031 Throwing my 2 cents at it (with another 2 people commenting we can get a ferrite choke eh~) I would take a bet that the 70s system was designed entirely for transformer based power supplies, but then with the replacement need with the aging components, switch mode ones were put in place. A good choice, small, efficient and cheap, it should do everything you want, BUT it introduces high frequency noise if not correctly filtered, on the inaudible range usually but sometimes down to audible range as well.

[@PigeonsandCapybaras]

The fact that the train didn’t interact with the signalling system means that even if the train was manually driven the risk of the crash would still be close to unavoidable

[@lukethompson5558]

Agreed. It’s also unconscionable if a train becomes unaccounted for (not reporting being in ANY block) for more than a few seconds, the entire line behind the “lost train” doesn’t immediately shut down, or at least the train that was behind the “lost train” at its last known location, should be stopped

[@acharris]

As someone living in the DC area and who has used the DC Metro system to commute for decades, I greatly appreciate this.

[@JoeOvercoat]

Ditto. Sad that it really hasn’t gotten any better, if not worse. Meanwhile, i live near the end of the Yellow Line that needs to be extended to Ft Belvoir. Thank goodness for Fairfax Connector buses.

[@rdaltry777]

Cap South on the Blue/Orange/Silver here. Former Belvoir worker that suffered with VRE and a beater car. So catch the Metro to L'Enfant, then VRE to Lorton, then my own car to Belvoir for the night shift. Reverse in the AM. I do not miss those days. Now I bike it for 15 minutes each way on a regular daytime schedule.@@JoeOvercoat

[@KevinWindsor1971]

As a teenager in the 1980's, I used to count how many times I saw "Cool" Disco Dan written along the track corridors.

[@geezushasrisen]

@@rdaltry777Cap South? I’m Federal Triangle; we’ve might passed each other for all I know

[@papagramps1257]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@JoeOvercoatHuh? Wmata has objectively been running service the best it has since 2009 and has been the best Subway system in the country in terms of rider satisfaction since 2022. 3-5 minute rush hour headways, crime is down 70% while fare evasion is down 30%, ridership is already better than it was pre-pandemic, and the trains have never been cleaner. I understand since you live in the outskirts of the system which sees relative neglect compared to the city proper, but Metro has taken huge strides since the new CEO stepped up

[@latinoburger123]

I was on this (front train, near the middle of the cars) I was living in DC, going to Catholic University for undergrad & I was 19 years old. I remember this SOOOOO vividly, I was rewriting notes for my Intro to Communication class & suddenly I was thrown into the seat in front of me, my chest hit the head rail & knocked the wind out of me. Guy next to me hit his head hard on the seat & was just out of it. I still have a small cut on my arm Craziest experience of my life

[@e-curb]

This is why you should always ride in a car near the rear of the train.

[@blockstacker5614]

@@e-curb or near the front of the train if your train is the one stopped

[@e-curb]

@@blockstacker5614 That's a good point. If the train stops, you could move forward.

[@jassenjj]

@@e-curb When tragedy hits, it doesn't really matter where you are in the train, the specifics are different every time. The most horrific speed train accident in Germany for instance was deadly for the wagons after the 4th.

[@Marc-King777]

WOW... Thank God you weren't seriously injuried or worse. As a DC native I too, remember this incident well. I wasn't on the train that day but this crash bothered me for a while in the aftermath because that could have easily been me-one of those nine victims. Speaking of the victims, I remember the media's coverage of them--a couple of them were working single mothers, including the train operator. While all loss of life is tragic, this fact stuck with me as I felt really sad for the surviving children to have to grow up without their only parent. For a long time after that I would only board on the middle cars of a train, even if that meant missing the train.

[@jbeckley6849]

Cost cutting definitely played a factor. Metro has a long history of cost cutting practices and the first thing to get cut is safety features and testing.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Sadly it has had tragic consequences

[@tookitogo]

It’s not _quite_ that simple in the case of the DC Metro. Because it operates in three jurisdictions (DC, Maryland, and Virginia), it historically had a really weird funding system, which basically amounted to WMATA having to go beg from _three_ different governments _each year_ because it had no baseline endowment. Over the years this led to expansion being funded (because politicians loved having their name attached to an expansion), with preventive maintenance getting ignored because “I’m the politician who greenlighted the basic maintenance” isn’t very sexy. 40 years of that, combined with some trackside equipment failing significantly ahead of its projected lifespan, culminated in the Metro needing to be shut down midweek with no notice. That ultimately led to changes in management and in Metro _finally_ getting funding that isn’t based on begging and negotiation, but based on a formula that allocates cost to the three governments based on population density and size, number of stations within a jurisdiction, ridership, etc.

[@CarlSmith-p2c]

Due to the politics between the local DC gov't, Maryland gov'ts (state and local), and Virginia gov'ts (state and local), the respective funding contributions from each government for the Metro budget are sometimes held up as political hostage. This impacts the ability to plan and budget effectively for long-term efforts. And naturally this impacts maintenance and safety as getting trains running each day becomes the priority with other tasks take a back seat.

[@TheSolidSnakeOil]

Too bad no one got that memo here in Baltimore. The entire metro was shut down last year because it was basically falling apart. On top on that, random fires would just kick off.

[@CraigBelldina]

Cost cutting? LOL maybe look at DC, MD, VA and the Feds. And the UNION. You have the money. Spend it correctly. Enforce fare skips (oh wait, that's racist....) it's not about money - it's about spending the money wisely. Which Libs seem to NOT understand. Period.

[@jeremyroither4360]

As a daily Metro rider for 20+ years, thank you for this video. WMATA eventually did an emergency shutdown of the ENTIRE Metro system following a deadly tunnel fire in 2016. The city was a terrible mire of traffic that day. The 2009 accident was still on the minds of area residents who generally understood that it was necessary. We basically dealt with it, knowing that the current state of the system was unsustainable and unsafe.

[@48shams]

I was on the same line when this happened. A couple weeks prior to this accident, on my commute home the train FLEW through like 4 stations without stopping. Somewhere between Friendship Heights and White Flint, I think. The train barely crawled into Twinbrook and all the lights went out. The conductor then said over the intercom, "Everyone out, we have no brakes." When all the cars were empty and checked, it crawled on and we caught the next one bound for Shady Grove. That's the last time I rode the metro and started commuting.

[@smontone]

Terrifying!

[@TianXiaoMao]

I once had the Metro stop at the Van Dorn station but not open the doors to let me off. A couple weeks later, it happened again, then the driver failed to let the riders out of the train at the end of the line for more than 30 minutes, and was charged with a DWI. This all happened slightly over a year ago at the beginning of 2023. Riding the Metro every day terrifies me.

[@louiszhang3050]

DC metro is not the same system as it was back in 2009. It's a complete different system now, and much better for that matter. You should try it out again. Nothing is more dangerous than dealing with DMV drivers....

[@nthgth]

.. isn't the metro _for_ commuting?

[@nerdacs]

I remember when that happened. In the immediate aftermath, people were too scared to be in the front car as a result. So if you wanted a seat in rush hour, you would go for that front car.

[@catprog]

I would think the back car would also be risky.

[@joeylamour]

I live in DC, on the edge in Takoma Park, and I drove to work when this happened and traffic was so bad that you couldn’t drive back into DC and no trains were running. My roommate had to walk from his job downtown, which took him almost three hours.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Blimey that sound horrible!!

[@joeylamour]

@@PlainlyDifficult at least he (or anyone we knew) wasn’t on the train! That was/is our train line.

[@tookitogo]

@@PlainlyDifficultDC is a city whose commuter traffic is so bad that one listicle of “reasons you’re a real Marylander” included the reason “You consider [self-unaliving] a viable alternative to rush hour on the Capitol Beltway.” As a Marylander who has driven on said beltway during said rush hour, I concur with that sentiment. And that horrible traffic is _with_ the Metro running and its ~400,000 daily ridership, which IIRC is similar to the number of people who commute in by car. When the Metro goes down, DC is absolutely fucked.

[@Moe_Lester_fromUptwn]

Rockville here. Ya, this was a major f up

[@ronv6637]

Most of the problem with DC traffic is the DC drivers,ignorant, unskilled,self important,rude, are the better points some are really bad and make everything unsafe and slow

[@jppitman1]

One aspect of your videos that I really like is the Plainly Difficult illustrations. They’re based on simplicity to help illustrate a complex issue. I also love the little sarcastic quips you put into people`s thought bubbles.

[@ashypooh02]

I live in the NoVa area ( Northern Virginia) and remember this. It was horrific. The metro is the lifeline of the DC area, but the whole system needs a major overhaul because of how old it is.

[@tookitogo]

Marylander here. :) Say hi to NoVa for me! DC Metro is not that old as far as metro systems go - not by a long shot. London, Paris, and New York, for example, all have networks over a century old. But WMATA is playing catch-up on the maintenance backlog caused by decades of underfunding. I now live in Switzerland, where one sees what proper maintenance and planning ahead looks like. The Swiss don’t wait for problems to occur, they replace stuff proactively long before it begins to cause trouble. And that’s how you end up with a transit network so reliable and punctual that people here _literally_ start glancing nervously at their watches once a train is 1-2 minutes late. At 3 minutes delay, the railway makes an announcement, including the reason for the delay. (And that’s a delay based on the timetable that is published for the entire year in advance, so a 3 minute delay on a departure time determined a year ago.)

[@ferretyluv]

And the union needs to be reformed. They protect the incompetent. All the people involved in this still have their jobs. Safety violators are protected instead of fired. Required trainings aren’t completed. And they’re paid six figure salaries for their incompetence!

[@hebrews11vs5]

Step back. The door representing the time frame of the existing 1000 series staying in use is closing.

[@suspiciousstew1169]

Shit I’m in nova too but never heard of this, probably was too young ig

[@dizzylilthing]

So there's a North Virginia, a West Virginia, and Virginia?

[@tomb4496]

“Raging hard on’s” wait, what😂😂 Caught me completely offguard, but hilarious👍🏼 Thanks John

[@PlainlyDifficult]

My pleasure

[@DarkDisc1]

I was going to mention that also lmao 😂 caught me well off guard!! Had to skip back 10 secs to double check

[@tomb4496]

@@DarkDisc1 😂👍🏼

[@az.................]

@@PlainlyDifficultShame there wasn't more mention of BART as they've had similar problems over the years though no proper disasters (save for the fatal tunnel fire in '79). Bill Wattenburg's the name to remember. He's a bit of a crank, but he publicly shamed BART for deficiencies in their signaling setup before it actually became a WMATA like disaster.

[@mikecowen6507]

​@@az.................Are you forgetting the pre-opening crash in Oakland (near the coliseum) where a fully manual train rear ended a stopped, unoccupied, fully automatic train on the elevated track. Or what about the "Fremont Flyer" where a fully occupied end of line (prior to expansion) train momentarily stopped, then accelerated to maximum speed before running through an earthen mound and off the end of the elevated track into the parking lot? There have been several minor, almost trivial, incidents since then, but nothing as bad as these two, with possibly only one fatality in the Oakland incident. Forgive my now 60 year old memory of something that happened in 1972 when I was 8 years old. BART opened in September 1973. I recall the Fremont incident was very similar to the Metro incident. Not surprising given Metro was *heavily* modeled after BART. While those were lineside issues, BART had some significant teething problems once the new system opened to near full capacity. Momentary train stoppages occurred frequently when the Westinghouse mainframe [old joke: what's that Westinghouse computer doing? Its westing. (Sounds better in Bugs Bunny's voice)] couldn't keep up with the amount of data coming in. The system *did* work because trains stopped when the mainframe was overloaded. It was a royal PITA (Pain In The... derriere) partly mitigated by running fewer, longer trains. This continued for a few years until it was replaced by a more capable system. I no longer live in the area, so staying current is much more difficult, plainly.

[@StephenCole1916]

Awesome video as always John! I live in Virginia and remember when this happened. After this accident, Metro would sandwich the older 1000 series cars in between newer models until they were able to be replaced with the newer 7000 series cars. It was not uncommon to see a train come into the station with a set of 5000 in front, 1000 in the middle, & 3000 series cars bringing up the rear. It wasn't until recently that they started using automatic train control again and they recently announced that they're going to lift the speed limits of trains from 55 to 75mph, which is what the system was originally designed for. For the last decade, there has been a lot of work done to upgrade and replace systems on Metro to get it up to modern standards. One underlying issue with Metro has always been funding, it's paid for by Maryland, Virginia, and the Federal Government and the latter has done a great job of making sure it's underfunded. One of the ideas of Metro was for government employees to be able to get into work easily but because of the lack of funding, there were some questionable choices made in its design such as lighter rail design which has issues during very cold and hot days. An interesting side note, my parents took my older sister, who was an infant at the time to the grand opening and rode the line those few stations on opening day.

[@BoboTheVulture]

Oh man, I had forgotten about the 1000-series sandwiches. The factors going in to what part of the platform to stand on: Safety of being in the train's interior, being in a safer new car or risky old car, plus the odds that a 1000-series' air conditioning won't be working ...

[@travellingartistfilm]

DC native here, absolutely surreal! My abuelita and I were on this exact line at the exact time the day prior - somehow completely forgot about this incident till I saw this video. Wonderfully covered; by the way I regularly take the metro to this day, it's been improved a great deal, but I'm not sure they've worked much on the automatic systems since. Great video as always!!

[@kmdkrohn]

while i enjoy the content of your videos, my favorite part is "all videos are produced by me, John, in a currently (weathery) corner of southern london uk." i then compare it to the weather here in the adirondacks. it's currently cloudy and very windy, with gusts up to 60mph.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

That's some pretty strong winds!!

[@jteal6251]

@@PlainlyDifficult We had a wind gust of 145 mph at a ski resort near Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border. Currently a huge blizzard going on in the mountains. Think the ski resort is at an altitude of 8100 feet.

[@Lokitty719]

I also compare to my local weather (western Canada)

[@dayzed.xartist]

I also compare it to what we have here in Northeast Florida (America)! Most of the time it's just sun, sun, and more sun 😅

[@kneesocks15]

Hey I was in HS at the time of this event and lived on the redline. Felt nervous for years whenever I stepped on the platform. This was before the move to the more modern trains when we ditched (most) carpeted cars. thanks for covering!!

[@tommihommi1]

the one thing that must never ever happen in a train control system is a train vanishing. A human dispatcher/controller/Fahrdienstleiter is the most conventional solution as an additional layer to catch stuff like this. But I guess the automated systems meant no human dispatcher was used?

[@andywomack3414]

The railroads figured out by 1900 that humans are imperfect, and leaned that safety mandated layers of human redundancy to maintain safe operation. Then they forgot all that in the 1980's with the rise of corporate culture and started considering their employees liabilities to be eliminated and not assets to be protected. There was a head-on collision near Denver that killed five rail employees, and destroyed the freeway bridge over the track. Happened within a month following the elimination of a train-order operator job that could have prevented that deadly meet.

[@PassiveDestroyer]

There was a human in the central control room, but they must have missed the train disappearing.

[@SteveW139]

Humans are fallible too. It would have been perfectly possible to incorporate logic based on the fact that a train is detected as entering the forward block before it leaves the rear one. An occupied block should not show unoccupied until a train has been detected as having passed wholly into the next one.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@SteveW139 Humans are fallible, but a human intuitively knows that a train doesn't just stop existing when a sensor fails to detect it. Machines don't have any common sense. The best answer is a a good automation system supervised by trained and disciplined humans. And of course, that's expensive.

[@VoxelLoop]

I feel like this is a pretty solvable issue in general though right? Through software that is. If a train enters a block and doesn't leave it, surely it's still within that block.

[@fuzzymath6240]

11 people died (or injured) in an early 80s METRO subway crash at the same the 14th Street bridge airliner crash/rescue happened. DC was having the worst snowstorm I'd ever witnessed and we were all just stranded, glued to the tv watching stranded motorist tie together their scarves and jackets trying to rescue those people.

[@x--.]

They KNEW?! The same failure had happened before and they didn't fix it? How is that _not criminal_?!

[@AaronScottLawford]

Sigh, America.

[@amandahunter7737]

Government and big business in America…

[@PhillyFan20]

The NTSB can only make recommendations. It is up to the transit agency to make the recommended changes. For example, the NTSB recommended that the original 1000 series cars be retired following a 2004 collision, and WMATA declined to do so because it would cripple rail service due to a shortage of rolling stock.

[@x--.]

@@PhillyFan20 Sure I'm talking about WMATA knowing their automatic train control system was broken -- invisible trains?! An accident was inevitable.

[@richteffekt]

You're clearly unfit to work in chemicals. Or Finance. Or Boeing.

[@pinkmouse4863]

I think we need "Disaster Bingo" coasters from the merch store. That way we always have one handy when a new video drops. ;)

[@thomasm70199]

Hello from a currently cloudy Southwest Washington DC, these videos definitely take on a different meaning when you are very familiar with the area where it happened

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I can imagine!!

[@3.0TMKreaZ]

I'm glad you made a video about this. All there was before was the really graphic video of the emergency crew at the wreckage. Can't wait for the key bridge video!

[@dr.ryttmastarecctm6595]

The non-installation of line-side block signals independent of the cab signals (redundancy) also contributed to this accident. Then there's the design failure of crash protection in the 1000 series cars manufactured by Röhr, an aerospace company, in Chula Vista California.

[@blueb0g]

A line-side signal would simply have repeated the information that the signalling system had, which is that the block was clear.

[@GrandadTinkerer]

The company that I worked for in the UK, built 'impedance bonds' back in the 1980's. I was one of the 'lucky' guys who spent 12 hour nights winding the traction coils for the units. I use the term 'winding' loosely, as the coils were formed from 3 inch wide, by 1 quarter inch thick copper strips. These had to be battered around a square, steel former, until a 'coil' of four turns had been completed. Each turn of the coil had to be insulated from the last, using strips of 'leatheroid'. Although knowing that they were something to do with railway signalling, I did not know exactly what. Thanks for the education.

[@caraiya]

Oh my gosh, you covered it!! Thank you so much! ❤❤❤❤❤❤ It hasn't been covered often, and I rode that train that day, maybe an hour or two earlier. Now...if you want to do a twofer, the WMATA smoke incident on Jan 2016 (during the pm rush hour) is another interesting study, because the issue of arcing insulators led to WMATA (which we prononce as Wah-mah-tah) doing a complete emergency shutdown on March 15-16, 2016. The city was basically at a standstill, with the federal and city governments closing on the 16th.

[@iansinclair521]

Of course, the real irony of the Washington Metro is that it had an excellent light rail system in the 1950s... and tore it out...

[@EldritchFyre]

I had family in Gaithersburg MD, several who worked in DC. Riding the Metro to go to the Smithsonian and other attractions around the Capitol when we visited was a big hit when I was a kid, living in rural Eastern PA we didn't have subways and commuter trains anywhere. Over the years, I can remember the train cars and stations getting seedier and more beat-up looking... there was definitely a lack of maintenance and upkeep going on... although the same could be said for many areas of the city as well. 🙄

[@mattiemathis9549]

Just got to say John, I was listening to the beginning as I did some chores. You’re talking about automated cars, I look up and see people driving on the wrong side of the road. It threw me for a minute. 😂

[@purplerunner1715]

Automation is only as clever as the people that build it, and given they are humans, they are not free from flaws.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Very true!!

[@thomasbaker6563]

But less apt to drugs, distraction and tiredness than a human centric system

[@Khayreee]

It had nothing to do with automation it was the detection system other transit systems use automation

[@wta1518]

@@Khayreee "Automation is only as clever *as the people that build it"* Try reading next time.

[@rory4989]

Hey John, great video. As a former dc resident and having spent 15 years in New York, I was always blown away by how many track fires and maintenance issues plagued the dc metro for being so relatively small. Don’t get me started on the broken escalators. My sister was going to school nearby when the fort totten crash happened. And when I was living there, a bad tunnel fire happened, asphyxiating a few people. US public transit is pretty mismanaged. Ps we pronounce WMATA as “w’matta”. Cheers

[@allisonb8912]

do you say w'maaata or w'mahta? I always say w'mahta, but I'm a transplant haha

[@rory4989]

@@allisonb8912 aaaa

[@gnored]

This has to be the poorest train detection system I'vc ever heard of. What is most amazing to me is that it EVER worked at all.

[@nthgth]

That's the US capital for you.

[@TheReubenShow]

Thank you for the work you do. I know that other channels cover most of the same disasters, but its really good to have more than one source. You are a funny guy, but you manage to respect the victims. No small feat. Cheers.

[@extrasharpcheddarcheese2008]

thank you so much, i live in the dmv and use the metro every day to get to work and have been waiting forever for someone to make a good video explaining what caused this crash because despite my proximity to it ive never known the cause

[@paigelewis7128]

my dad actually worked building some of the tunnels, he was in charge of the electrical

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I bet he had some interesting stories from his time there!

[@paigelewis7128]

@@PlainlyDifficult I don’t remember them much I was like 7, I remember it being super dangerous and him being gone 16 hours to 20 hours a day because of the commute.

[@abcdapyro]

Small world. I'm from DC myself. I was working for MTA Baltimore that day, they asked for volunteers to drive down and help bring commuters home.

[@gustusthread2256]

One of my earlier memories is of this accident being on the news. I grew up in the area watching Red line trains run up and down MD-355. The images of the one train on top of the other definitely left an impression on me.

[@smallflame85]

One factor that mitigated the severity of this incident was that the trains were inbound (on the up line, for my UK readers) at the time of the incident, which was opposite the PM rush. This meant a greatly reduced number of passengers on the incident trains compared to the AM rush.

[@elanv]

My father was an engineer for the Metro from 2000 to early 2007. I showed him this video, and he says great job for everything being fairly accurate. Funnily enough, the man on the bottom left at 14:15 was one of his coworkers and a man I've met, who currently works for the NTSB. One of the things he and my father did at Metro was investigate the crash on the top left at 12:08. The mechanisms that failed in all of these crashes are called Wee-Z bonds (nicknamed so because of the WZ, as you can see at 13:06) and he and his team some cases when they tested the Red Line, some were downright missing. They wanted to test the other lines to see if they were just as bad, and they got shut down by their superiors and weren't allowed to. In fact, my father claims there was one guy who started working there in 2006 and was so persistent in demanding the failing/missing Wee-Z bonds that he was fired without reason only a few months into his job. That was part of why my father quit, as he as well as those he worked with had been extremely frustrated with the Board for years for their constant decision to prioritize "saving money" by not replacing/maintaining these systems at the cost of safety. Yes, the 1000 series were very prone to crumpling up during collisions, but that wouldn't have been as much of an issue if any of the higher ups actually cared about safety whatsoever. It's been common knowledge for decades in the DC area that safety was always lacking, but having an inside perspective just makes it even more frustrating. I mean, what's the point of having safety and maintenance engineers if you don't listen to anything they have to say and act on it?

[@jdrissel]

I rode the Metro of that era as a pre-teen. I stood right behind the operator's cab. I observed several strange speed command changes. Like traveling at 48, the commander speed going from 50 to 0 to 40 and then 45 all within a second or two. The train would jerk around when that happened, applying hard brake when the 0 popped up, then accelerating. The switch for 40 to 45 happened while the train was still down in the upper 30's, so it didn't do anything except create anxiety. I understood what they were trying to do, but clearly there were implementation problems. I thought there would be crashes and after that we rode in the middle of the trains. I think it was a big design failure to not include any kind of backup train detection. My thought at the time was to look for any power draw on the segment ahead. That would not have been sufficient, many times a train lost power completely. It was a hard problem but I think having a train disappear from the system really ought to cause all trains nearby to stop. But that system wasn't designed to detect the abnormal absence of a train.

[@lzh4950]

The trains in my country (which use CBTC signalling) will automatically brake if contact is lost with one of them, which happened in 2016. It took around a week & military scientists to find the root cause, during which cellphone signal along the line was shut down. Turned out 1 or 2 of the trains had malfunctioning antennas that were causing interference

[@RCAvhstape]

You need to add "company blames victim" to your bingo card. I remember when this happened there was a lot of talk that the moving train operator was texting on her phone and not paying attention. This later turned out to be false; she was fully alert and hit the brakes but just didn't have enough time to slow down before impact. The other thing about this is that the old 1000 series rail cars were more comfortable to ride in, despite the ugly 70s upholstery, and the newer cars have recently had a lot of problems with the wheels going out of gauge and jumping the tracks. Metro has had a pretty rough safety record in the 15 years since this accident, with trains catching fire in tunnels, derailments, track workers getting killed by trains that shouldn't have been moving, and a famous escalator failure which piled passengers up on the bottom of the escalator and which might make a good short video of its own. The motto of the system: "DC Metro: We Dare You to Ride!"

[@D3M3NT3Dstrang3r]

Not the worlds biggest train enthusiast, but these videos are very interesting! Keep up the good work John, lets see some more!

[@doublej1076]

John: While you've got Metro on my mind, have you covered the 2015 tunnel fire, in which the controllers turned the tunnel fans at each end to blow inwards, causing one woman to suffocate? But hey, it's been almost 9 years now since Metro killed somebody, so we've got that going for us, right?

[@weirddreams7003]

I remember being furious about the accident in the video, because it was all but inevitable due to WMATA's poor safety culture. And I lost track of how many tunnel fires there have been - sometimes it seemed like some part of Metro was on fire every week.

[@e-curb]

What about people un-aliving themselves by jumping in front of the train as it enters the station?

[@NoTraceOfSense]

@@e-curbplatform screen doors

[@e-curb]

@@NoTraceOfSense Do they have them in DC? Where I live, they don't have them. The general public is unaware of the sui-cide problem. The announcements always state that there's a "medical emergency" at XXXX station and that the station is closed. I asked a friend who was a transit supervisor how many per year. He estimated about 40.

[@totallynotphoenixwright]

This is so awesome! I used to live in the DC area (and have even gone to Fort Totten myself) and it's so crazy recognizing some of the places in the video. Like, wow, I forgot that we share the same universe or something? Insane. Love your work as always :)

[@richardharris8848]

I lived in DC when this happened, I was just starting high school. To this day, the trust in Metro has not fully recovered. Ridership is higher than it’s ever been but after recent fires, and even systemwide shutdowns for emergency maintenance, it’s easy to see why the trust hasn’t returned. It’s a beautiful system that runs on a thread sometimes unfortunately.

[@fromdarknesscomeslight6894]

The fires were so prevalent that for a while there even was a website called "Is Metro On Fire Today", with the options "Yes" or "Not Yet".

[@jonhu4127]

This is scary. Even though it happened more than a decade before I moved to the DC area it's something that's still all too possible today. Especially where the mentioned near miss was. Silver, Blue, and Orange lines run through that section

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It’s scary things never change!!

[@Tirani2]

Thank you for doing this one John. I had friends who were on the train that was struck. Thankfully, they were unharmed, but they still won't ride the metro to this day, and I can't blame them. Please make sure you cover the 2016 tunnel fire on the same system, thanks!

[@ylpea5170]

This is quality content! Waking up on a Sunday and listening to this while doing chores is just good.

[@jimmeade2976]

A good overview (though as you said, somewhat simplified) of the ATC systems and the incident. FYI, we say the authority in DC as "wah-mah-tah" rather than say each letter. Similar ATC systems are used in several other rail transit systems around the world, with excellent safety records. One thing not mentioned is that most rail authorities that have similar ATC systems have implemented track circuit monitoring systems, essentially a computer system that counts each occupancy and unoccupancy of every track circuit, and alarms appropriate personnel if the counts don't match. For example, if a track circuit's occupancy count is 100 but the adjacent track circuit's count is only 90. In that case, either the first track circuit is bobbing as a train goes over it or the second track circuit is not detecting every train. Either way, the situation must be investigated and resolved.

[@geezushasrisen]

I remember this like yesterday. I lived one stop away Takoma Station (Fort Totten) at the time and always thought about how easily it could’ve been me; especially since I always like to sit in the middle cars.

[@GarGhuul]

Yep, three seconds after the music came on I could feel nostalgia setting in. Well done!

[@robertkeyes258]

You might be interested in the 1990 crash in Back Bay, Boston, with an amtrak train derailing and hitting a MBTA subway in the station. I was nearby, and saw some of the aftermath. There was an inverted pothole in the middle of Dartmouth street because one of the trains had hit the roof of the tunnel.

[@alexdhall]

As a long time resident of the DC Metro area, I'm glad you got around to discussing this accident. Especially describing the Westinghouse ATC system. This was the turning point toward when WMATA figured out the costs of deferring maintenance for decades. Its been a painful decade plus where WMATA has slowly trying to fix all the old and worn out components of a neary 40 year old system. 4:19: I believe they still have some sort of signals/signaling because metro train drivers in recent years have ignored stop signals...which resulted in some embarrassing derailments and such....😬 0:58: FYI minus a few tests on the Red line over the years, WMATA has been running thr DC Metro manually since that accident. They are moving slowly 2:05: Fun fact BART and the DC Metro were built with the same ATC system from Westinghouse. 13:15: Fun fact: Alstom also refurbished several series of DC Metro's series of rolling stock. I believe the 2k and 3k series. The 4k and newer 5k were retired because of reliability and door issues (with the 4k series). WMATA (its pronounced whm-mata...I think). Also WMATA is still struggling with having a deficicient safety culture.

[@-r-495]

the synth at about 02:30 is just 👌🏼 John

[@ExpoAviation]

This is why signalling systems are designed to be "fail safe", in the UK a track circuit failure results in a red signal being displayed (which I am positive you already know about) which in turn provides an extra layer of safety. The closest we've had would be the introduction of the Class 158 DMU's which were the first to have disc brakes rather than tread brakes, the wheels would run over leaves and cause the trains to sporadically fail to complete the track circuits - though BR had thought of that and due to the way the signalling was set up it still offered a level of protection, the 158s were eventually fitted with scrubbers to clean the wheels of muck. While it used an axle counter rather than track circuits the Severn Tunnel rail disaster was also a nasty affair in which several factors came together to defeat the layers of protection. A very interesting video, though I think your interest in Mr Bartholomew Simpson could have been kept to oneself ;)

[@andywomack3414]

My father was a locomotive engineer for the B&O, then the original owner of the CSX line mentioned in the video. I have ridden in the cab with him over that particular area, well before DC Metro was built. I have also ridden that DC Metro Red Line. My thoughts are with the operator that died. I hope those last few moments of her life passed too quickly for her to realize she was looking at death, and that her surviving relatives are now living well from whatever settlement they received as a result of her death.

[@antlerman7644]

The music before the backround was a bit louder than the rest of the video, other than that, cracking video 😁

[@mh1593]

Great to see the SPT making a (thankfully rare) appearance on this channel! Thanks!

[@Sigil_Firebrand]

This is the first time I've been to a place, or on a transit system, that you've covered, I rode the Washington metro last year to get to the Smithsonian museum. It was really cool, like this video! I'll also say I do think of the 2009 crash riding the metro, and i refuse to sit in the first or last cars... just in case.

[@bethluther3950]

Love everything you put up, John. Thanks!!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Glad you like them!

[@dex1lsp]

Yes, as a San Franciscan, I can confirm that you don't want automatic driverless robo-cars to roll out there anytime soon. Trust me on that. It's been a f-ing DISASTER. Those damn things have killed several people in this city alone in just a short time, and injured many more. Some have directly hit people, and others have blocked emergency vehicles that were trying to reach people who needed urgent medical attention. In any case, LMFAO at "Raging hard-ons for BART" 😂🤣

[@wta1518]

Fun fact about those driverless cars: despite the industry lying about them being safer than people, they actually crash 15% more per mile than a 16-17 year old driver. And 16-17 year old drivers are by far the most likely to crash.

[@airplanemaniacgaming7877]

@@wta1518 Christ. Not to mention how all it takes is just one sensor crapping the bed for it to go blind.

[@carrioncrow13]

I have been binging this channel for a while now. Love your videos. Am now a subscriber. :)

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Yay! Thank you!

[@caerusdharken57]

Thats why in european non mainline railways a track circuit that was occupied can not be designated unoccupied again if the following section does not register as occupied. Been that way since the 50s. We had our fair share of accidents and thus track vacancy detection is ruled unsafe and those additional measures have been applied ever since, only now they start to trust electronic axle counting systems to be safe without those measures.

[@alisonwilson9749]

I understand the need for more modern systems to get more traffic on the lines, but I personally would still prefer to go slower and have the old 'out of block' system you describe.

[@InLoveWithCities]

@@alisonwilson9749There are plenty of modern systems that allow for 30+ trains per hour on a metro line and full automation. The German LZB system is available since the 80s and tracks all trains on the system at all times. Nowadays there are much better ones available even.

[@nONSTOPtRAINS]

Great Video john!

[@CompileErrorLog]

So happy other Nerds exist! Where else would i learn about this? Have a good one and keep up the good work!

[@xocalliexo]

I'm about an hour from DC, give or take, so I've always loved riding and learning about the Metro! I still remember sitting at my kitchen table watching the news right after this accident happened.

[@h-leath6339]

I'm not sure about other systems but I've been riding BART since I was a child (oh so many years ago). And man, built and operated since the 1960s and they only just retired the last original car like a year ago. THAT'S build quality! I'd buy THAT for a dollar! And when it opened it only ran on weekdays from 9a-5p. Because they though nobody would want to use it.

[@dennis2376]

Thank you and have a great week.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

You too!

[@willowsloughdx]

Thanks for the BART kudo at 1:55! This is the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) that began service in 1972.

[@lonelyovaries]

Hello John, from a cold, snowy corner in Oregon. Love your content; the last couple videos have been some of your best work. I look forward to seeing you in my feed :))

[@ronniedagemini]

Sadly, if the train was going in the opposite direction, it would’ve been way more fatalities. This accident happened in the height of rush-hour, mini government workers getting off work, but thankfully, as I stated before they were going in the opposite direction.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

That is true! It could have been far more catastrophic

[@dangerdave138]

great content as always john

[@pokéman9924]

Thanks again for another wonderful video

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Our pleasure!

[@pokéman9924]

@@PlainlyDifficult yo thanks for the reply I don't think I have ever got one from such a great KZbinr

[@umberct]

I enjoy your very well researched videos. I also like your weather report of what is happening in your neighborhood.

[@jenniferproctor439]

Timely, since WMATA ("wah-mat-tah") is planning to go automated again. I'd personally rather see them upgrade the old stations so it's not as dangerous on the platforms during peak - Smithsonian Station is terrifying during events - I've personally seen a kid nearly brained by a train coming in because her dad had her in his arms and her head was hanging over his shoulder and he had no idea how close he was to the edge of the platform because he was focused on getting up the one escalator out.

[@Wildschwein_Jaeger]

Yep. Ya ever wonder how they were able to find vintage 80's Metro cars for Wonder Woman 1984? You just wait. 😅

[@AC-cg4be]

I mean, let's be honest here. . . It might have something to do with the denizens of that trash heap and their crab mentality. A little politeness and less self-aggrandizing prick behavior would probably help clear out stations a little faster and safer instead of every self-important moron thinking they deserve to be the first person on/off the train or out of the station.

[@jenniferproctor439]

Hah, there's still original Breda cars in service and pulled out for replacement service, it's just a question of whether they've been reupholstered or not - I've seen the original metro ads from when it was just a few stations in NW - they got Redskins players to demonstrate how to use the ticketing system. @@Wildschwein_Jaeger

[@allisonb8912]

@@Wildschwein_Jaeger remember when they took all the 7000s out of service and brought back the OG cars that had just been sitting unmaintained for a decade? That was fun

[@Its_Remyy]

I believe I recommended this several years ago -- I was young when the crash occurred, but it and the 2016 tunnel fire have always given me as a life long DC resident pause. This was a very interesting watch!

[@allisonb8912]

I remember when I was commuting to law school, we would always check the "is metro on fire?" website before getting on a train. The amount of times I've gotten stuck in the Rosslyn tunnel is absurd. After 5 minutes, the claustrophobia really starts to set in

[@Sxcheschka]

I loved the song at the end, so surreal and dreamlike, but yet with a hint of a playful charm.

[@jteal6251]

John, have you ever heard of the trainload of military munitions that blew up between Roseville and Sacramento, California? It was early 1970's, I believe, maybe a bit earlier, during the height of the Vietnam war. I remember hearing the explosions from around 30 miles away. My late husband lived nearby. He told me they had to open windows so the concussions did not break the glass, and every concussion blew the sheer window drapes to the ceiling. They still dig up the stray bomb from time to time. Have to do a local evacuation, build berms around it, and detonate it. If they have archives accessible on line, the Sacramento Bee (large metro paper) and Roseville Press-Tribune (smaller local paper) would have the details. Feel free to message me here if you have any questions. I really enjoy your videos and thought you might like a story idea.

[@ralach]

1974 Roseville yard disaster?

[@jteal6251]

Realized I was a little unclear. The 'munitions' were bombs

[@jteal6251]

@@ralach Yes, that's the one! Happened just outside the Roseville switching yard. Empty fields then, heavily built up now.

[@michaeladimick8795]

It was right by my home town of Antelope. Not that I was alive when it happened, but we did do a little research project into the disaster while I was growing up there.

[@jteal6251]

@@michaeladimick8795 I grew up in Meadow Vista, the other side of Auburn. Heard them clear as day, like distant thunder. No Internet, so we didn't find out what it was till the newspaper arrived next day. Yes, I'm an old fart lol

[@MorimotoRei]

From the DC area and remember this happening. Fun fact: the DC Metro has one of the scariest escalators in the country at the Wheaton station.

[@dianecripps204]

Yes, that escalator is scary!

[@tookitogo]

It’s not scary, it’s awesome!

[@ninabean12]

It’s literally one of the tallest in the US! And i refuse to use it

[@regould221]

It's about a 3 min ride.

[@HIDLad001]

It is actually the longest escalator in the western hemisphere

[@blackluxurians6062]

I'm from DC & remember when this happened ...it was crazy

[@Antilleotheclown]

That’s exactly what we don’t use the automatic on the metro link in Baltimore. I’m a light rail link operator and I was told by a few operators that have come over from the metro link to light rail that they don’t use the automatic train feature.

[@chriscothran8744]

Yay BART! I live in the Bay Area and love taking BART whenever I can, including later today to run some errands around the city.

[@dasy2k1]

That's a terrifying type of wrong side failure!

[@juliestevens6931]

Yeah, this happened in my neck of the woods. I remember this very vividly. All over the news.

[@kimhohlmayer7018]

Been on those DC Metro trains many, many times on quite a few trips to vacation there.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

I like the music that plays at 2:27, that last chord before it cut off sounded like it could go somewhere really interesting! I must recreate it so I can continue its journey in my DAW 😅

[@Acceleronics]

Don't feel bad, John. It's currently very wet and windy in normally sunny California. :-)

[@BakedKitsune]

Yk you’re gonna be the reason why I got into railway safety as a career

[@cadillacdeville5828]

Anybody from the area remember when they used to have the paper transfers? When you were getting on a different bus. 😮😊.

[@dianecripps204]

I remember tokens in NY too.

[@Mwolfi400]

I was just thinking you should do this topic. We listened to this disaster from my Fire department just far enough away to not need to show up. What a mess.

[@cadillacdeville5828]

Thank you for covering this story. I distinctively remember if I would have called her earlier train I would have been part of that unfortunate event.

[@TransistorBased]

This came out about 2 weeks before I was in Tokyo and got to ride on one of their completely driverless automated trains. It's definitely an interesting experience to stare out the front of the train and realize that if something goes wrong there's nothing you can do about it

[@christopherpardell4418]

I used to work with a guy who was in charge of designing the Bart, The DC Metro, and the San Diego Trolley light rail systems at Rohr. In his retirement he was helping straighten out a small manufacturing company I worked at for a year. Fascinating guy. Started out at 3M. Then worked at Los Alamos. Then Rohr, first on missiles and then headed their electric train division.

[@fhs7838]

An interesting fact: Most newer Chinese metro trains are designed with "Tc-M-M...-Tc". (T-trailer, M-motor, c-control cab) The first car, also where the control system at, are not powered. Back in old days, in early 2000s, metro trains are "Mc-T-M-T...-Mc". Where the first car, the control car, is also powered by motor, and has third rail contact. It's said that in early days, "Mc" design has issues with motors interfering with control surface or signals. Also, some first few CBTC system like Beijing subway line 10, equipped by Siemens TGMT, is using a public SSID WIFI for the wireless controls. There were news that passengers found interesting WIFI signals but unable to connect. (Of course you cant and should not connect to it.)

[@Genichiro]

This is why I try to avoid being in the rear or front cars. Getting out of a station a couple minutes faster isn't worth becoming a pancake. Thankfully I don't rely on Metro for my daily commute anymore (only when I need to go into the city for something, and don't feel like getting playing parking space roulette).

[@michaelimakfinsky4493]

Here around DC we all just refer to WMATA as "wuhmatah" It saves us the mouthful 🤣

[@toblexson5020]

It feels like even when this line was developed that they could have designed around this issue. You should never have a complex system that becomes unsafe with a single component failure. Shorter monitoring sections could have been used, ensuring that a train is always being detected by at least two sections, or a counter could have been built in to monitor the number of trains on the network, and entering a safety mode if a train is lost. There's definitely no excuse for this flaw to still exist today - I can think of several ways to ensure that a train is not lost on a network, ranging from interconnected smart monitoring (If the train leaves one segment, but doesn't show up in the next segment, then there's an error that can be detected), to GPS devices on each train, giving a second source of location data to verify the rail monitoring.

[@ellis16]

DC Metro was my train enjoyer awakening. Such a delightful ride