SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010


Trains were invisible to system


metro from B1


travels along the rails. When a train is not present, the signal loops around the tracks and re- turns to the module receiver. If the signal’s journey is broken by the wheels of a train, a message is sent to trains behind it to reg- ulate their speeds and stay back. But in some cases, the electri- cal signal indicated the tracks were clear without ever running along the rails. On June 17, 2009, key pieces of equipment connect- ed to the module on track circuit 304 near Fort Totten were re- placed and the power increased, causing a problem known as “parasitic oscillation,” in which the signal jumped directly from the transmitter to the receiver in- side the module. Tests after the accident showed that circuit module wasn’t alone. Nearly 300 mod- ules had problems with their electrical signals, and alarms in- dicating the phenomenon oc- curred so often that they were ignored as “minor.” Metro had an enhanced test for the loss of train detection that was developed in the wake of a 2005 near-miss close to Rosslyn. But Metro technicians working on the circuit in the days before the crash were not familiar with that test. For five days, trains zoomed along track circuit 304 undetec- ted, but they were spaced widely enough that they did not collide. On June 22, there was a mal- functioning train on the Red Line that had to be taken out of service, causing trains behind it to become backed up. In addi- tion, the operator of the lead train, No. 214, was using manual mode, in violation of Metro rules, causing it to move more slowly than it would have on au- tomatic. Train 214 stopped completely within the boundaries of track circuit 304 and was not detec- ted, so speed commands in- structed the following train, No. 112, to advance at 55 mph. Be- cause the train was advancing along a bend, the operator could not see the train ahead until it was too late. The operator applied the


emergency brake about three seconds after coming into view of the train ahead, but that only slowed the train a few miles per hour before the two collided. tysona@washpost.com


Te transmitter sends a signal to a device called an impedance bond, which sends it along the rails toward the other end of the block.


2


Impedance bonds between the tracks at either end of a block couple signals within the block.


If no train is in the block, the signal reaches the other impedance bond and is sent to a receiver in the control room. Te receiver amplifies the signal and energizes a relay, which tells the system that the block is unoccupied.


3 IF A TRAIN IS IN THE BLOCK ...


... the train’s wheels and axle will short the signal circuit. When no signal arrives at the control room, the system knows the block is occupied.


WHAT WENT WRONG


Seconds before the crash, Train 214 was stopped in block 304, but the train control system didn’t recognize it.


Within the rack, a malfunction common to amplifiers caused a kind of feedback (the technical term is “parasitic oscillation”) that mimicked a legitimate signal.


1


False signal (parasitic oscillation)


No


Valid track circuit signal


actual signal


BLOCK 304


KLMNO Invisible, until it was too late


Te cause of the deadly Metro crash in June 2009 can be boiled down to one fact, the National Transportation Safety Board found: Te system that keeps trains apart didn’t recognize that one train was stopped in the path of another.


WHEN THE SYSTEM FUNCTIONS PROPERLY


Metro tracks are divided into small blocks of varying length. Each block has its own, self-contained electric circuit that determines if a train is occupying a section of track.


HOW IT WORKS 1


A block’s circuit begins at a signal transmitter in a rack at the station’s train control room.


Low voltage circuit


2 BLOCK


Drawings are schematic


S


B3


Summer engineering course inspires some to dream of a career


bridge from B1 1 3 Receiver


Rack in station control room


Transmitter


Aszurtoine and Terrell took their turn. They reached two doz- en bottles, and their bridge hadn’t budged. The bridge that was tested before theirs collapsed after just seven. “I’m scared,” Aszurtoine whis- pered anxiously as Terrell slipped another bottle into the basket. “Oh, my God!” They kept going until the buck-


BLOCK


et was full. The bridge remained standing, leaving the judges per- plexed. So they straddled bags over the sides of the bucket and kept loading. They reached 48 bottles, then snap — the structure gave way. “I didn’t think it would hold


Train ain wheels wheels


that much,” Terrell said after- ward, surprised that their “rush job” bridge had held. “We thought it would break at,


No signal


Train 214


ain 214 1


Receiver Transmitter 2


False signal 2 Tis false signal bypassed the track circuit, traveling within the control room rack from the


transmitter directly to the receiver. Because it interpreted the fake signal as valid, the system operated as if no train was in the block and allowed Train 112 to proceed at 55 mph.


SOUTH


Te driver of Train 112 could not have seen Train 214 around the curve until her train was 470 feet away. She hit the emergency brake three seconds aſter 214 came into view, but the trains were so close that Train 112 slowed only to 44 mph before the crash.


3 About About 470 feet 0 feet 3 SOURCE: NTSB TRAIN 214 Approximate location of impedance bonds TRAIN 112


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like, seven bottles,” Aszurtoine said. “I just wanted it to break al- ready. It was taking too long.” Another bridge managed to hold 49 bottles, but after the judges figured in other factors, such as the weight of the bridge, Aszurtoine and Terrell were named the winners. Stanley Onye, director of the Science and Engineering Center at UDC, said the program is a valuable tool for District students and lobbied the participants to continue their education in the District — at UDC. Onye said that the partnership


between Johns Hopkins, UDC and area high schools will be “a combination that all of us can benefit from.”


Terrell, 17, said there are sever- al engineers in his family, includ- ing his father, and he’d like to fol- low in their footsteps. He’s look- ing at Grinnell College in Iowa or Amherst College in Massachu- setts, where he might play foot- ball. Aszurtoine, 17, plans to use sci- ence as a roundabout way to her passion: a career working with children. She plans to become a pediatrician and hopes to own a day-care center. School administrators recom- mended her for the program, and she said the lessons of engineer- ing — problem-solving, hands-on planning and building — will help her no matter which career path she takes. Shiesha McNeil, 16, discovered


a new potential career during the four-week course.


Shiesha — whose bridge held


49 water bottles — had never worked with electric circuits be- fore the class, and she became en- thralled with the science behind electricity.


A rising senior and classmate


of Aszurtoine and Terrell’s, Shiesha is looking at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and George- town University. She wants to be a software or computer engineer. “I’ve never worked with elec-


tricity like that before,” she said. “I got to work with circuits! I got to make a robot move!” As the robot moved, she snapped pictures with her cell- phone and quickly posted them to Facebook — evidence of the moment she found her path. rojasr@washpost.com


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1-8-6 6-7-8-5


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VIRGINIA Day/Pick-3:


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10-14-20-29-32 3-8-0 N/A


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