WASHINGTON — Many of us might think that Metro is the worst system in the country,聽due to聽the endless service disruptions and safety issues. But you might be surprised to find out that there are subway systems that are worse.
Metro had an “average or above-average” overall record in safety and reliability when compared to eight other large transit systems nationwide. That is based on analysis done by of federal transit data for the past聽eight years.
The systems that were studied were Metro, and the rail systems in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco.
Metro had the second-worst average rate of deaths for passengers and employees during the past聽eight years while Los Angles had a highest rate of passenger deaths; Miami had a higher rate of employee deaths, The Washington Post reports.
The majority of Metro-related deaths occurred in two high-profile cases in 2009 and 2015, according to the newspaper’s account.
In June 2009, a 聽crash on the聽Red Line killed eight passengers and a train operator, . train passenger Carol Glover died after a smoke incident at L鈥橢nfant Plaza.
It was those deaths that brought Metro under investigation by the . It also was a major factor in exposing deep seated problems within Metro’s safety culture and which helped lead to a closer federal safety oversight.
In response聽to the analysis, Metro’s General Manager Paul Wiedefeld told The Washington Post聽that he is focused on improving Metro and not on debating whether Metro fits in the middle or not.
He also told聽the newspaper聽that Metro’s record on passenger and employee deaths was聽worrisome.
Metro had one of the lowest rates for passenger injuries from 2008 to 2015 and ranked fifth, for collisions and fires, while older rail systems in Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Chicago had higher rates for fires, derailment and collisions. Also, 聽Metro had the third-lowest rate of total mechanical failures between聽2011 and 2014, according to The Washington Post’s report.
Industry experts warn聽that comparing subway systems is difficult. Representatives from some of the other subways systems聽said聽that different cities use different criteria when deciding what should be reported.
