Charlotte train derailment raises new safety questions about troubled transit system

By Genna Contino, Charlotte Observer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Krissy Oechslin says she worried about safety on Charlotte’s light rail before she knew about last year’s train derailment.

She wonders now if the four-page safety reports that started appearing in the Metropolitan Transit Commission packets had anything to do with the derailment. But there was no explanation at the time.

She’s also not certain why the Transit Services Advisory Committee she chairs received a safety presentation last week from David Moskowitz, head of security for the Charlotte Area Transit System. But the presentation came after Oechslin and other members raised worries about light rail delays due to equipment malfunctions.

The presentation from Moskowitz addressed safety incidents on CATS trains. It did not mention a derailment.

That news came Monday when interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle revealed to the Charlotte City Council a Blue Line train derailed in May 2022. It unleashed a fresh set of questions from Oechslin and council members alike and added a new issue to an already-troubled transit system.

In the past year, CATS has suffered from bus cancellations or delays and reduced transit service. After failed contract negotiations, bus drivers voted to strike before reaching an agreement in late January. CATS also has three executive positions in flux after reports last week that Chief Operating Officer Allen Smith was placed on administrative leave with no pay. CATS also lacks a permanent CEO and CFO.

Cagle told the council he only found out about the derailment about two weeks earlier when the North Carolina Department of Transportation reached out requesting more information for a report. The interim CEO also outlined a series of corrective measures already underway.

“There have already been so many issues (with CATS) that have come up that there’s not really a lot of public trust,” Oechslin said. ”This sort of caps that off.”

CATS spokesman Brandon Hunter on Tuesday said the derailment occurred after a northbound Blue Line train stopped at the Woodlawn station on its usual route on May 21. With 24 passengers on board, the train was on its way to the Scaleybark station when a wheel on a middle car came off of the tracks. The train traveled 1,206 feet before stopping. The train car remained on the tracks even as one of its wheels hung off.

All passengers got off safely, and one passenger requested a medical evaluation on the scene. No passengers or employees were injured or transported from the train.

A preliminary report was filed to the NCDOT State Safety Oversight three days later, within the required 72 hour time frame. The general public didn’t know until Monday, nearly 10 months later. It’s not clear whether CATS complied with a requirement to notify NCDOT and the Federal Transit Administration by phone or email within two hours of the incident.

Councilwoman Renee Johnson said Monday it was concerning that the City Council wasn’t informed about the derailment for nearly 10 months.

Oechslin said people have asked her if the Blue Line is still safe to ride.

Cagle said CATS will repair all 42 light rail vehicles and replace the faulty axle bearings.

“One has to wonder, if all of the trains have those parts that need to be replaced, are they really safe?” Oechslin said.

CATS insists the city’s only light rail is safe.

“We would not operate it if it were not,” Hunter said in an email Tuesday afternoon.

CATS has not made a representative available to speak other than responding to emailed inquiries. Train manufacturer Siemens did not respond to request for comment Tuesday, but a spokesperson said the company intended to do so.

Along with decreasing maximum speeds from 55 to 35 miles per hour, CATS is also checking temperature strips daily that have been added to each train car, Hunter said. WFAE reported the speed decrease came as an order from NCDOT in response to an otherwise inadequate safety plan.

CATS staff will ensure daily the temperature strips placed on each car are not exceeding 130 degrees. If they do, staff will remove the vehicle for further inspection.

“While the manufacturer recommends vehicle bearing inspection at 150 degrees, CATS decided to add a margin of safety and set the vehicle inspection threshold at 130 degrees, 20 degrees below the recommended temperature,” Hunter said.

The faulty part on each train car is a bearing that creates friction with an axle. On the derailed train, a seal broke on a bearing, allowing water and corrosion in to ultimately stop the axle from turning.

Each train car has six bearings, and the city owns 42 cars. To fix the issue, Cagle said CATS is working with rail company Siemens Mobility to expedite repairs on each train, which is expected to take several years. The city will foot the bill because the parts are no longer covered under a warranty.

During Thursday’s Transit Services Advisory Committee meeting, a member asked Moskowitz how safe CATS transportation is compared to other cities.

“When you look at other agencies, we’re relatively safe,” Moskowitz said. “We’re not having an excessive amount of incidents that is not, you know, for the operating environment that we have here in the city, we’re actually doing pretty well and below the national averages.”

Oechslin said she didn’t know to ask about the derailment last week because she didn’t know there was one.

Oechslin said she sought more information during the meeting about what CATS meant when its Twitter account would announce an “equipment malfunction” causing delays to the light rail. On the day of the derailment, CATS said there had been a “train malfunction” on the Blue Line.

“We have been asking for a while to get more clarity on that,” Oechslin said. “Are these sort of normal equipment malfunctions or are there more than usual?”

The committee never got a clear answer, she said, but learning about the train’s derailment did not ease Oechslin’s fears.

While maintenance isn’t quite as “sexy” as other transit needs, it’s imperative to a safe, efficient and running system, Jarrett Hurms, co-chair of the committee, said after learning of the derailment.

Before COVID-19 became a pandemic, CATS detailed plans to its governing board for overhauling its entire light rail fleet.

During a February 2020 meeting with the Metropolitan Transit Commission, CATS shared plans to increase light rail service intervals by 90 seconds and run 30 cars instead of 36. This would allow CATS “necessary time to perform recommended and required maintenance to lightrail fleet,” minutes from the 2020 meeting show.

The presentation shows the city received bids for a truck overhaul program at the time of the meeting. Oechslin, who also serves on the MTC, said she doesn’t remember the topic of light rail vehicle overhauls coming up again until last month during a CATS budget presentation.

It’s unclear if the original pre-COVID timeline for an overhaul of light rail vehicles would have fixed the bearing issue and prevented a derailment.

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