More on Metro's Red Line

The Metro train car that slammed into another on the Red Line yesterday evening was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash, officials said today.

Nine people were killed in the crash, including five whose bodies were removed from the wreckage today. The accident was the deadliest in the 33-year history of Metro.

According to a Metro source knowledgeable about railcar maintenance, the first car of the striking train was two months behind on a scheduled maintenance for changing out brakes and brake components.

"These components are supposed to be changed out to prevent failures," the source said.

This morning, a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, said that the train that slammed into the back of the other did not have data recorders that would have detailed its movements before the crash.

Also, a federal official said that the car was an older model, of a kind that Metro had been advised to replace because of concerns about how it would stand up in a collision. Metro did not do so, its leaders said, because they believed it would be too costly and complicated. Instead, they made some improvements to the trains' braking systems and emergency exits.

Officials have not said whether they believe that the delayed maintenance played any role in the accident, or whether they believe another type of rail car would have performed better in Monday's crash.

The impact was so powerful that the striking train car was compressed to about one-third its original size, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation by both city and federal authorities. They were said to be focusing on the possibility of an operator error paired with a failure of the train's electronic safety systems.

These systems, designed to automatically stop a train heading for a collision, were supposed to make this kind of crash impossible.

Officials have identified all of the dead. Jeanice McMillan, 42, of Springfield, was the operator of the striking train. The rest were passengers: retired Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr., who headed the D.C. National Guard, and his wife Ann Wherley, both 62; Lavonda King, 23; Veronica DuBose, 29; Cameron Williams, 37; Dennis Hawkins, 64; Mary Doolittle, 59, and Ana Fernandez, 40.

Today, passengers from inside the train are describing scenes of confusion and pain: One man found himself on the other train's roof, knocked out of his shoes. A teenage girl watched as the woman sitting next to her died from a wound caused by jagged metal debris.

The floor of the train disappeared below the feet of the horrified passengers. Several of the dead were crushed, their bodies not located until a crane removed part of the striking train this morning. Firefighters had to use heavy rescue equipment to cut open the cars to reach survivors trapped inside. At least 76 people were injured.

"The scene is one that no one should ever see," Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said at 9:30 a.m., after confirming that a total of nine bodies had been recovered. "There is unbelievable destruction and damage. What I saw was far worse than anything you can imagine."

The recovery effort and investigation will continue today, shutting down some parts of the Red Line and MARC commuter rail's Brunswick line. Officials advised the public to brace for a difficult evening commute.. Red Line trains traveled at a maximum speed of 35 mph this morning, significantly slower than usual.

Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board said the safety agency asked Metro to add data recorders after a 2004 crash and found it unacceptable that the system had not done so. The train that was struck was more modern and did have recorders, she said, which will provide some information about conditions at the time of the crash.

Hersman and Catoe emphasized at the news conference that the cause of the collision, just outside the Fort Totten Station in Northeast Washington, is not yet known. Although more crash-worthy rail cars probably could have reduced the number of dead and the severity of injuries, it is too early to say whether different or improved rail cars could have prevented the collision.

NTSB investigators will be looking at possible mechanical causes, signal failures and operator training, among other issues, Hersman said.

The 1000 series of trains makes up about 30 percent of the fleet and is being phased out. Catoe did not have an immediate response at the news conference about why more of the safety board's recommendations were not followed, but said the agency would do a full investigation.

Fenty said two people injured in the crash remain in critical condition after being hospitalized overnight.

D.C. Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin said cadaver dogs were used in the search for victims, and the wooded areas on either side of the tracks had been thoroughly searched for any survivors or dead. Rescue crews also used thermal imaging, looking for changes in temperature, to help find the bodies.

The NTSB has assigned a railroad investigator and two specialists from its office of transportation disaster assistance. The Metro board is having a special meeting.

Although the investigation is just beginning, certain systems are designed to prevent an accident like yesterday's. During morning and afternoon rush hours, all trains except longer eight-car trains typically operate in automatic mode, meaning their movements are controlled by computerized systems and the central Operations Control Center. Both trains in yesterday's crash were six-car trains. But officials would not say whether the trains were in automatic mode or being operated manually.

Investigators will probably focus on a possible failure of Metro's computerized signal system, which is designed to prevent trains from coming close enough to collide, as well as operator error, according to former Metro officials. McMillan was relatively inexperienced, having begun driving trains in December, officials said. Train operators must first operate a bus for a year before they can apply to operate the train. They then receive about 12 weeks of training.

The computerized system should work whether trains are being operated manually or by computer.

But even if the signal system failed to stop the train, the operator should have intervened and applied emergency brakes, safety experts familiar with Metro's operations say. The position of the second train after the crash -- the fact that its first car came to rest atop the other train -- indicates that the second train was traveling at high speed. In the section of track where the accident occurred, the maximum speed is supposed to be 58 mph. Metro officials would not say how fast the trains were going because of the ongoing NTSB investigation.

There was no maintenance work scheduled in the relatively long, flat section of track between the stations. For many weeks, trains were slowed because of a weakness in the track bed that Metro said it repaired this spring.

This is the third serious Metrorail crash since 1996. The last fatal train crash occurred 13 years ago, when a Red Line train overshot the Shady Grove platform on an icy night and plowed into another train. The operator died. In November 2004, a Red Line train rolled backward down a steep stretch of track and smashed into another train at the Woodley Park Station. Twenty people were injured, but there were no fatalities.

The deadliest accident in the system's history before yesterday occurred in 1982, when a six-car Orange Line train bound for New Carrollton derailed near the Federal Triangle Station when an improperly aligned switch caused it to enter the wrong track. Three passengers were killed.