Austin commuter rail delayed indefinitely

Faces safety, technical issues

Steve Hawley, Mar 30, 09.

The opening of the commuter rail line connecting Leander to downtown Austin has been delayed indefinitely by recurring safety violations and technical problems, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Capital Metro Transit had scheduled the opening festivities for late March, after many setbacks, and the first train had been set to run no later than the end of April. The agency now has no public target date, stating instead, “By May 15, Capital Metro will report back to the community with the status of the project and an action plan.”

According to the American-Statesman:

[In mid-March], the Federal Railroad Administration [FRA] began an investigation into a February incident in which two Veolia [Capital Metro’s rail contractor] train engineers drove their MetroRail trains into a section of track without getting proper clearance. According to Capital Metro rail operations director Bill Le Jeune, they realized their error after a third of a mile, stopped, got proper clearance and then moved on. The violations could result in federal and state fines for Veolia.
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On Thursday [March 19], according to Le Jeune, the railroad administration accused Veolia of seven violations, alleging irregularities related to"efficiency testing” and poor documentation of hearing and vision tests on workers. On Friday, Capital Metro, which is still trying to fix a problem with signal crossing gates that in some cases don’t come down quickly enough, applied the brakes to the project.

Capital Metro has called on Veolia to fire its local safety director and is bringing in officials with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) “to assist with startup operations and safety implementation.” MBTA operates a dozen commuter rail lines in the Boston area.

The delay has fueled criticism of Capital Metro, which was already under fire from local and state officials for the handling of its operations.

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