BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A top 10 list of improvements from the National Transportation Safety Board could change the way passengers travel. The agency released the list this week.
Gigi Barnett explains the NTSB’s concerns focus on rail safety.
The National Transportation Safety Board released its most wanted list. They’re ways to keep passengers safe on all modes of travel.
Leading the top 10 safety concerns are the nation’s commuter rails. In the 2009 DC Metro Red Line wreck that killed nine passengers, agents discovered several problems.
“They were paying more attention at the board levels to schedules and on time performance than they were to safety,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman.
In the five years since the accident, Metro has added a new fleet of railcars and workers are installing new controls that will better locate trains and slow them down automatically in the event of an emergency.
“Every year, we have more than 35,000 fatalities in transportation in the United States. We can and must do better,” Hersman said.
But the changes aren’t just for large rail systems. The top 10 list also focuses on smaller commuter lines, like Baltimore’s light rail.
“I haven’t experienced anything unsafe about it,” said one.
“I’ve been riding the light rail going back to work for five years,” said another. “I feel real safe.”
Also new to the top 10 list this year is passenger vessel safety, like ferries. Investigators say for decades, they thought accidents were caused by the vessels. Now they know that many of those wrecks were because of poor safety practices.
In addition to the DC Metro accident, NTSB investigators are also looking into recent commuter train wrecks in New York and Chicago.
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Filed under: Local, News, Syndicated Local Tagged: NTSB, NTSB Safety, NTSB Safety Recommendations, Rail, Safety Recommendations, Train 