The last fatal subway collision in New York was in 1995, when a J train ran into an M train on the Williamsburg Bridge. Since then the NTSB has filed four reports on D.C. accidents.
Published 23:15, June the 23rd, 2009
D.C. crash has NYers asking about safety
Subway cars here run on a different system, but some are just as old
The last fatal subway collision in New York was in 1995, when a J train ran into an M train on the Williamsburg Bridge. Since then the NTSB has filed four reports on D.C. accidents.
Straphangers looked to the MTA for reassurance yesterday, after investigators in Washington singled out the age and make of one subway car as a potential factor in Monday’s train collision that killed nine. New York currently runs subway cars that are older than D.C.’s 33-year-old Metro system.
The National Transportation Safety Board had already told the Washington transit system to replace the car that “telescoped” on Monday, after it collapsed in a 1996 crash. The MTA doesn’t use this car, but a spokesman said the agency would “incorporate” any “applicable” safety recommendations from the NTSB investigation.
“Their system is vastly different than ours,” said NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges.
D.C. trains are computer-controlled, but New York’s run on a century-old fixed-block signal system that keeps trains apart between stations and means slower speeds. The subway may top out at 40 mph, but the Metro can reach up to 59 mph.
The L is the only New York line with computer-run signals, but it’s had no accidents since starting a year ago. Operators also can take control of the train, unlike in the Metro’s 1996 crash, which was attributed to computer failure.
That didn’t allay the fears of rider Alex Phillipe. “The [system] is old. Every time you get on a train, you never know,” he said.
