Metro’s dead zones must be killed

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

A U.S. submarine can dive far deeper than 65 feet under water and still communicate with boots on the ground.

A plane can cruise at 39,000 feet and the piloting team still can maintain communications with people bound to Earth.

A tweet can travel from Kim Jong-un’s abode to the White House in mere seconds, if the right buttons are pushed.

So why, oh why, can’t Metro get the tunnel communications thing right?

Metro must kill the dead zones, because the transit agency clearly is jammed between a ROCC and a hard place.

ROCC stands for Metro’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC), and it’s the center’s job to speak by radio with train operators and workers, firefighters and other first responders when something goes awry.

Poor interoperability in communications, though, gives Metro a black eye.

NASA’s headquarters is right here in the nation’s capital. Might the great leaders of the District, Maryland and Virginia seek NASA’s advice? Ask it to convene a summit to solve the mystery?

Here’s the problem that the beautiful minds cannot seem to solve. Parts of the D.C. region’s Metrorail system run underground via into tunnels. When there’s a derailment or a fire or human life is in peril, the radios that rescuers rely on can’t always communicate with those that people at Metro use.

And what’s truly a liability in such cases is that the problem is giving a recurring black eye to the mass transit system, which wants the public to think that, with a few dollars more, the problem will be resolved.

Metro’s dead zones made national headlines in January 2015, when the L’Enfant Plaza station filled with smoke and first responders’ and Metro workers’ radios failed during the emergency. One passenger died in that incident, and dozens of others were hospitalized.

The latest black eye came Monday, when a morning rush-hour train derailed on the Red Line, the oldest segment of the rail system.

First responders in the subway typically need assurance from ROCC that the third rail, the one that carries the juice, is dead before they begin rescue efforts. “Spotty” radio communications delayed their efforts Monday. At more than one point, ROCC couldn’t even connect with the train’s operator, and a third party had to relay information.

Blessedly, no one was injured, and it took crews about 90 minutes to evacuate all 63 passengers.

The problem appears to be that the “spotty” breakdown in communications is familiar fact at Metro.

Prepare yourself for an explanation from Metro’s chief safety officer, Patrick Lavin: “This area is a known problem If we have other known problems, we address those immediately as well.”

Hardly reassuring.

Indeed, an apparently peeved Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday called the region’s Metro system a “disaster.”

“I was shocked to hear about it, but not that shocked,” said Mr. Hogan, an obvious reference to Metro’s prior safety problems. “The place is a disaster.”

Communication failures aren’t Metro’s only concerns. After Monday’s derailment, we learned that part of the cracked rail that caused the derailment underwent three inspections this month, and was given the OK after each inspection.

Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we’ve known that interoperability in communications is the linchpin for first responders. The deadly L’Enfant Plaza incident was but one reminder. The derailment on Monday was another.

To know that Metro and regional officials were aware of the dead zones is unacceptable.

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3.

Metro, can you hear the public now?

• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.