Statement from BART General Manager Grace Crunican on NTSB report
BART acknowledges receipt of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) final report on the tragic accident of October 19, 2013 and wishes to thank the NTSB for its meticulous investigation.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families of Chris Sheppard and Larry Daniels, as well as to others who have been affected by the tragedy.
BART, with the assistance of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), has made significant changes to its trackside procedures in order to provide additional safety measures for our workers.
Among the changes:
- Trains are slowed to not-more-than 27 miles an hour whenever a worker enters the fenced off area surrounding the BART right-of-way;
- If a worker is within six feet of the track, trains are stopped and cannot proceed unless and until the wayside worker acknowledges to the Operations Control Center that they are clear of the trackway and that it is safe for the train to proceed and the Operations Control Center conveys this information to the Train Operator;
- All BART employees who routinely work on or near the trackway undergo at least 32 hours of wayside safety training with retraining every two years;
- All other frontline BART employees undergo at least eight hours of track safety training with biennial or triennial retraining;
- Even when trains aren’t running, a watch person is mandatory whenever maintenance vehicles are working on the tracks;
- In fiscal year 2015, the District invested an additional $5.3 million in roadway worker safety initiatives, including the hiring of 40 additional staff;
- The District has implemented a safety incentive program for frontline workers.
BART’s top priority is the safety of our customers and workers and we will continue our work to develop solutions to improve safety.