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Old 06-23-2009, 08:51 AM   #8
glatt
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
The civic leaders don't run Metro, so that has nothing to do with it.

It's too soon to know what caused this.

I could write a very long post on this. In a nutshell, the trains are driven by computers. Autopilot, if you will. The computers get their information from thousands of sensors throughout the system. Those sensors are on the trains themselves (mainly in the doors) and also on the tracks. Either there is a problem with the computer, or there was a faulty sensor somewhere. The thing is, there are supposed to be multiple layers of safety so that one faulty sensor won't result in a crash. Sensors in trains fail all the time, and they take those trains out of service and fix the sensors. Those failed sensors never result in a crash, so there has to be more going on here. Probably some sensor on the track.

The drivers can take control of their train in an emergency, the driver of the train that rear ended the other must have been distracted or incapacitated, on top of the autopilot failing.

It's all very unusual, and required multiple layers of failure to happen.
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