Metro has been given 90 days to prove all train operators have the necessary safety certifications needed to perform their jobs.
”We saw that the records for a train operator, for example, involved a Green Line incident where they moved the train back toward Greenbelt on the wrong track — during an evacuation ahead — which put two trains potentially in a head-on collision situation,” said Max Smith of Washington Metrorail Safety Commission.
This decision follows incidents involving operators with lapses in their safety certifications or without full certifications.
“We’re examining the entire … process of training and certification,” said Metro General Manager Randy Clarke.
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“In some ways we are pretty out of alignment with the rest of the industry. We have too much time here [and] not the … best type of testing in other ways. And so we are rebuilding that whole process,” Clarke added.
If operators, who are not certified, do not take the exams and prove certification within the 90-day period, they will not be able to continue operating the trains.
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