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DC Train Crash-Computer Failure may be the cause

by albertacowpoke | June 24, 2009 at 02:47 am

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At least 9 people were killed and 70 more injured in a metro train crash in DC on Monday around rush hour.

A computerized system apparently failed to stop a train from crashing head-on into another. Investigators focused on that aspect of their investigation yesterday.

It appears that the Operator, McMillan, had applied the emergency brake even thought the train had been set to automatic. This means that the train would have been mainly controlled by a computer.

The operator at this time would have been responsible for opening and closing door and taking over in an emergency situation.

McMillan had been on the job, driving a bus for two years, but had only been driving a train for the last few weeks.

Read Jarrett Martineau's Story Here

Train in Vain by Ace Preston

Investigators in the U.S. capital were focusing Tuesday on why a computerized system apparently failed to stop a train from crashing head-on into another, even though the emergency brake was applied.

The train had been set on automatic mode, which means it was mainly under the control of a computer. That left the operator responsible for opening and the closing the doors, and taking over in an emergency.

At least nine people died in the Washington, D.C., crash, and more than 70 people were injured.

Train operator McMillan was two years on the job driving a bus, but only a few weeks as a train operator. It appears that she tried to turn on the emergency brake, but it's unclear whether the brake was actually engaged.

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sara star

at 07:55 on June 24th, 2009

Thanks for the update.

The woman at the controls of a transit train that plowed into another would have done anything to prevent the accident, friends and relatives said Tuesday, a day after the crash killed her and eight others.

Jeanice McMillan, 42, of Springfield, Va. was a devoted mom to her college-age son and while she had struggled financially, she loved her job ferrying commuters and tourists around the nation's capital, those who knew her said.

albertacowpoke

at 08:30 on June 24th, 2009

Thank you Sara for the update on the family:)

Spydermonkey

at 08:23 on June 24th, 2009

I'd rather have a human driving (i.e. final decisions on what to do) instead of a computer (see also airbus story). The computer can be fooled with something as simple as a sensor malfunction, it's harder to fool a human with experience.