FTA

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Commuter Rail

U.S. Transportation Secretary Announces $280 Million for Streetcars

December 3, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the availability of $280 million for urban circulator projects such as streetcars, buses, and bus facilities to support communities, expand business opportunities and improve people’s quality of life while also creating jobs. The money represents the first batch of taxpayers’ money by the Obama Administration for its Livability Initiative, a joint venture of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “This represents a significant effort to promote livable communities, improve the quality of life for more Americans and create
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Commuter Rail

WMATA Officials Brief Safety Groups About Rail Yard Collision

November 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials met with members of the Federal Transit Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and the Tri-State Oversight Committee and walked them through preliminary information related to a Nv. 29 collision of two trains in the West Falls Church Rail Yard. The meeting was called by Metro and was a follow-up to personal contact that Metro’s General Manager John Catoe and safety officials made in reaching out to inform officials of the FTA, NTSB and TOC about the accident, WMATA said. The general manager also briefed members of the Metro Board of Directors about
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Commuter Rail

NTSB Identifies Signal Failure in DC Crash

September 22, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued nine safety recommendations, six of which are urgent, as part of its investigation into the collision between two Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) trains on June 22, 2009. The trains crashed on the Red Line near the Fort Totten station in Washington. The NTSB’s recommendations address concerns about the safety of train control systems that use audio frequency track circuits, authorities said. As part of its investigation, the NTSB said it discovered that a failure occurred in which a spurious signal generated by a track circuit module transmitter mimicked