Throughout Metro’s 40-year history, the National Transportation Safety Board has repeatedly raised questions about the agency’s safety culture that have not been adequately addressed, its three-jurisdiction governance model has proven “uniquely dysfunctional” and the federal agency that sought safety oversight of the transit agency has made recommendations that are “non-enforceable.”
That summary, from NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart, came during his opening statement Tuesday at the meeting where the panel will present its findings about the probable cause of the Jan. 12, 2015, smoke crisis in a Yellow Line tunnel near Metro’s L’Enfant Plaza station. ... The board faulted the District’s 911 emergency center, saying the center took four minutes, 19 seconds to process the first call for help about the smoke crisis – a far longer period than guidelines call for. The safety board also said D.C. firefighters received improper directions from Metro before walking in darkness toward the train in the tunnel, and, as result, they initially walked down the wrong tunnel.