5 months ago
WASHINGTON,DC (WUSA) ---METRO announced Thursday it will resume normal speed on its Red Line trains during Friday's morning rush hour. It is the first time since a fatal accident on the Red Line killed nine persons on June 22nd that Red Line trains will operate at normal speed.
The National Transportation Safety Board which is investigating the fatal crash, gave its approval for the change Thursday Night.
Since the accident, Red Line trains have been operating at an approved maximum speed of 35 miles an hour. The change will allow train operators to travel as fast as 59 miles an hour on sections of track that are approved for that higher speed.
Red Line riders who spoke with 9News Now Thursday Night appeared to be happy with the return to higher speed.
"I'm absolutely thrilled. It's been terrible riding METRO. I keep thinking I moved, and I left New York for this! It's been terrible," said one woman at the Red Line's Cleveland Park station.
Trains will continue to operate in manual mode, not in the computerized automatic mode that was in use when the two Red Line trains collided.
METRO says 85 % of the one thousand series cars in its fleet have been moved to the middle of its trains. It was a one thousand series car that was in the lead of the train which slammed into another last week.
METRO also says it has inspected 85 percent of the three thousand warning circuits in its system. It is one of those circuits that is suspected of failing to alert the trailing train that another was in front of it before last week's crash.
