[Scan-DC] Subway Radios

[Alan Henney]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603898.html

Radios Don't Work In Metro's New Cars
Portable Alternative's Reliability Is Debated

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2008; A01



The radios in Metro's highly publicized new rail cars are not
compatible with the agency's troubled radio network, so train
operators must rely on handheld radios to communicate with the
system's control center, officials said.

Train operators say the handheld radios are less reliable than radios
built into rail-car consoles. The operators are concerned that
precious time could be wasted during emergencies.

Metro officials and union representatives said the dependence on
handheld radios in the new cars does not compromise safety because
there are backup measures to allow operators to get in touch with
central control, which monitors and directs all train movement.

The transit agency has been eagerly awaiting the full deployment of
new rail cars to ease crowding and add capacity as Metro heads into
its busiest season. The majority of the cars are running on the Green
Line, where ridership is expected to surge when baseball season starts
in three weeks because the city has urged fans to take Metro to the
Navy Yard Station, a block from Nationals Park.

Of the 184 new cars that are supposed to be delivered to Metro, 158
are running. Metro's total fleet has 1,114 cars.

The radios in the new rail cars, which make up 14 percent of the
fleet, are designed to work with a more advanced communications
system. Metro has been trying to get an advanced radio system to work
reliably since buying it eight years ago. But the upgrade is not
complete, making the radios in the consoles of the new rail cars
useless.

The radios in the older rail cars are compatible with the current
system and work.

Metro Transit Police and track workers have long complained about poor
radio reception in certain "dead spots" while using handheld devices.

The radio problem leaves some train operators worried when they get
into one of the new cars. Instead of a console radio as primary
communication with the control center, operators must rely on
battery-operated handsets. The poorer reception on the handsets,
particularly underground, makes it harder to hear what control is
telling them, they say. About 60 miles of Metro's 106-mile system are
underground.

"It's a disaster waiting to happen," one senior operator on the Green
Line said. He described a scenario of a train in a tunnel with the
operator having only a handset to communicate with central control.
"If we've got to evacuate, I'm sitting there because I don't know we
have to evacuate because I can't communicate with them," he said.

He spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of jeopardizing his
job.

All train operators are required to carry a handheld radio so that
they have communication with central control if they need to leave the
train cab. The radio system is used for internal Metro communications.
It is separate from the intercom system that train operators use to
talk to passengers. That system works properly on the new rail cars.

Jackie Jeter, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which
represents roughly 7,000 employees, including train operators, said
she was not aware of safety issues related to the inoperable radios in
the new cars. If a handheld radio is not working, rail personnel have
access to phones in station kiosks and in emergency call-boxes located
every 800 feet along the track, Jeter said.

In emergencies, the control center can shut off power to a portion of
the track, said Dan Epps, who is in charge of daily rail operations.

Metro's rail chief, Dave Kubicek, said the problem is with the
troubled $73 million radio system that Metro bought from Motorola in
2000. "There's nothing wrong with the radios," he said. "The
infrastructure is incapable of receiving at this time."

Kubicek said Metro and Motorola have been repositioning underground
cables and antennas to improve reception. Reception around the Green
Line stations near the new ballpark is much improved, officials said.
Kubicek said he is "targeting" the underground work to be completed
and the overall system to be working by the end of the year.

Kubicek said dead spots affect console radios and handhelds the same
way, so if a handheld radio can't get reception, the console radio
can't, either. As an additional precaution, he said, the control
center will not implement a command unless it receives an
acknowledgment from the train operator.

But train operators said they can hear better on a console radio
because "it's right in front of you," according to another operator
who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A handset can be damaged if
dropped, its batteries can run down, or it can slip off the train
console. If someone falls on the tracks and central control is trying
to tell an operator to stop the train, an operator with only a handset
might not hear the communication, operators said.

Kubicek, who took over as rail chief last fall, said officials knew
since "day one" that the radios on the new rail cars would not be
compatible with the existing system.

To compensate, Kubicek said, he issued a memo directing employees
operating new cars to carry two handhelds instead of the required one.
Operators said they never received two handsets, and other Metro
officials said they were not aware of the two radio-requirement.