NTSB: Signals failed before Metro crash

WASHINGTON — Signaling equipment that is supposed to detect stopped trains in Washington, D.C., failed periodically in the days leading up to a deadly Metro transit train crash, federal investigators said Wednesday.
 
Nine people were killed and more than 70 injured last week when a train slammed into another train stopped on the tracks near the Maryland state line.
 
The findings by the National Transportation Safety Board are the strongest indication yet that the oncoming train could have lacked information that another train was stopped on the tracks when the June 22 crash occurred.
 
The cause of the crash, the deadliest in the rail system’s 33-year history, has not been determined.
 
Investigators have said there is evidence the operator of the train that was moving, Jeanice McMillan, applied the emergency brake before the crash. Her funeral was held Wednesday in New York.
 
Metro’s signaling system is supposed to detect passing trains and transmit speed and stop commands. But the NTSB said problems began occurring after a piece of equipment was replaced June 17, five days before the crash.
 
The NTSB previously said the signaling system at the crash site failed last week during a test after the crash. Subsequent problems also were found over the weekend.
 
Metro did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
 
Federal investigators also said they plan to conduct ``sight distance tests’‘ in about three weeks to help them determine what McMillan would have seen. In those tests, officials will use cars similar to those from the trains in the accident, investigators said.
 
``There’s a tremendous amount of data we have to review,‘’ NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said.