NTSB: D.C. Metro Has Had ‘Severe Learning Disability’ When It Comes to Safety

Metro’s long history of deficiencies — including poor maintenance, a loose safety culture, a blindness to potential hazards and a chronic failure to learn from previous disasters — all contributed to last year’s deadly smoke crisis in a Yellow Line tunnel, federal officials said Tuesday in a report that reads like an indictment of the beleaguered transit agency.

 

“To me, this shows that [Metro], historically speaking, has had a severe learning disability,” Robert L. Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a public hearing as the board finalized a report of its inquiry into the Jan. 12, 2015, smoke incident, which killed one train rider and sickened scores of others.

 

“Quite simply, they have not been willing to learn from prior events,” Sumwalt said. “Learning disabilities are tragic in children, but they are fatal in organizations. And literally that is true in this case.”