U.S. & World

WASHINGTON (CBS) ― Investigators looking into the deadly crash of two Metro transit trains focused Tuesday on why a computerized system failed to halt an oncoming train, and why the train failed to stop even though the emergency brake was pressed.

At the time of the crash, the train also was operating in automatic mode, meaning it was controlled primarily by computer. In that mode, the operator's main job is to open and close the doors and respond in case of an emergency.

"There have been a lot of questions in the last 24 hours about whether the train was in automatic or manual mode," said NTSB spokesperson Debbie Hersman. "Metro operates in automatic mode during rush hour, so we would have expected it to be in automatic mode. The evidence from the scene confirms this. Investigators have also been looking at braking issues. They found that the emergency brake was found in a depressed condition; it was pushed in at the time of the accident."

Hersman added that while the brake button was depressed, it was not clear if it had engaged or not. She also said it was not yet clear if the fatalities occurred in the striking or stationary train.

Federal safety officials are investigating a passenger's statement that the striking train stopped briefly then started again before the crash. National Transportation Safety Board investigators are interviewing surviving passengers on the trains involved in the accident that killed nine and injured more than 70 others.

One passenger was quoted in media reports as saying he heard an announcement before the crash that the train that struck the other was stopping because another train was ahead. The train then started moving and within seconds struck another that was stopped on the track ahead.

Hersman said NTSB was in the process of requesting cell phone records, and have not ruled out the possibility that the driver might have been using a handheld device when the accident occurred.

Hersman said it was not clear when the button was pressed or how it got that way. She also cited evidence of braking on the train's rotors, indicating it was likely that the operator tried to slow down.

The train plowed into a stopped train ahead of it at the height of the Monday evening rush hour, killing nine people and injuring more than 70. It was the deadliest accident in the 30-year history of the Washington Metro.

Crews spent Tuesday pulling apart the trains' wreckage and searching for victims' bodies. Authorities worked to determine why the train's safeguards apparently did not kick in.

"That train was never supposed to get closer than 1,200 feet, period," said Jackie Jeter, president of a union that represents Metro workers.

All Metro trains were running on manual control as a precaution against computer malfunction.

The cars in the moving train were some of the oldest in the transit network, dating to the founding of the Metro system.

Federal officials had sought to phase out the aging fleet because of safety worries, but the transit system kept the old trains running, saying it lacked money for new cars.

Hersman told The Associated Press that the NTSB had warned in 2006 that the old fleet should be replaced or retrofitted to make it better able to survive a crash.

Neither was done, she said, which the NTSB considered "unacceptable."

Metro General Manager John Catoe said the agency expected to receive proposals "over the next month or so" to replace the old cars, but new trains were still years away from being installed. He insisted the existing cars were safe.

This was not the first time that Metro's automated system has been called into question.

In June 2005, Metro experienced a close call because of signal troubles in a tunnel under the Potomac River. A train operator noticed he was getting too close to the train ahead of him even though the system indicated the track was clear. He hit the emergency brake in time, as did the operator of another train behind him.

Shortly after that incident, Metro attributed the problem to a defective communications cable.

The signal relays that control trains were replaced after a serious safety warning in May 2000 by the Federal Railroad Administration. The warning came after failed relays were detected on the system, formally known as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

The operator of the train that barreled into the stopped cars Monday was identified by Metro officials as Jeanice McMillan, 42.

McMillan was hired in March 2007 as a bus driver and was tapped to become a train operator in December. Metro officials say employees start as bus drivers before moving to trains.

Investigators want McMillan's cell phone and texting records to determine whether she was distracted before the crash, Hersman said.

Safety officials also are investigating a passenger's statement that the train had stopped briefly then started again before the crash.

Iyesha Thomas, a Metro employee who worked with McMillan, said McMillan would often work the late shift. She did not have a car and if she was unable to get a ride home, she would sleep at Metro's offices, take the first train to her home area and return to work later.

A neighbor, Aicha Mezlini, said McMillan was killed driving the first train on her 4 p.m.-to-11 p.m. shift. She said McMillan normally worked Tuesday and Wednesday, but last week Metro changed her shift to Monday.

"There is no evidence whatsoever that this driver has done anything to cause this accident," Catoe said Tuesday.

The crash occurred on the red line near the District of Columbia-Maryland border, in an area where higher train speeds are common because there is a longer distance between stops. Trains can go 55 to 59 mph, although it was unclear how fast the train that crashed was traveling.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, emergency crews cut away the top of the train that jackknifed on top of a stopped train. They removed the debris with help from a crane brought in overnight.

"The scene that I witnessed was one that no one should have to see," Catoe said. "It was unbelievable destruction."

Later, his voice choked with emotion as he addressed hundreds of employees at a prayer vigil Tuesday. He told them the agency will find out what caused the accident and develop a solution.

"We cannot afford to lose any more of our own, or any more of our customers," Catoe said. "I need your prayers. This agency needs your prayers."

Metro has long pleaded for more money to ensure the system's safety. The transit network is supported by the District of Columbia, Maryland and the Virginia jurisdictions that it serves. However, unlike other major systems, Metro has no dedicated funding source.

Metro officials have long argued that the federal government should contribute because the trains serve the capital, and some 40 percent of rush-hour riders are federal workers.

Catoe said last year it would take $7 billion just to maintain current service and keep the system running safely and reliably from 2010 to 2020. That includes replacements for aging rail cars.

It would take billions more, he said, to deploy longer trains and more buses to meet the projected increase in demand. The number of passenger trips taken on Metro trains is expected to grow 22 percent to about 1 million a day by 2020.

Some passengers involved in Monday's crash returned to the site Tuesday to get another look at the destruction.

Jamie Jiao, 20, said he was aboard the first car of the moving train just a few feet from where the car was smashed.

"It was only a split second," he said. "We were probably traveling pretty fast. No one had time to react."

Jiao had two bandages on his face, and his foot was in a splint. He was walking with a cane and complained of aches in his back. "I'm thankful it isn't more serious," he said.

Tijuana Cox, 21, was in the train that was hit. She had her sprained arm in a sling Tuesday.

"Everybody just went forward and came back," with people's knees hitting the seats in front of them, Cox said.

The only other fatal crash in the Metro subway system occurred Jan. 13, 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment. That was a day of disaster in the capital: Shortly before the subway crash, an Air Florida plane slammed into the 14th Street Bridge immediately after takeoff from Washington National Airport. The plane crash, during a severe snowstorm, killed 78 people.

In January 2007, a subway train derailed in downtown Washington, sending 20 people to the hospital and requiring the rescue of 60 others from the tunnel.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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