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Probe into Washington train crash on

WASHINGTON: Federal investigators focused on why a computerised system failed to halt an oncoming train in a crash that killed nine people will for the first time on Wednesday test the automatic controls that were designed to prevent such disasters.

At the time of the collision, the train was controlled primarily by computer, but there is evidence that the operator tried to slow it down.

The crash on Monday occurred just after a train operator, who had been on the job about three months, started her shift. About 13 km down the Red Line track, another train was stopped. The trailing train slammed into a stopped one and jack-knifed violently into the air, falling atop the first. Investigators are trying to find out why the train did not stop, even though officials say the emergency brake control was pushed down and there was evidence that the operator tried to slow her car before impact.

The cars in the moving train were some of the oldest in the transit network, dating to 1976. Federal officials had sought to phase out the aging fleet, but the transit system kept the old trains running, saying it lacked money for new cars. — AP

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