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CATS officials focus on streetcar training after crash

By Jenna Deery
By Jenna Deery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officials with the Charlotte Area Transit System are taking a look at how much training streetcar operators receive after a crash Saturday when an out-of-control trolley barreled down Elizabeth Avenue into the back of an SUV stopped at a red light.
 
The operator of Saturday's streetcar, listed on a police report as Metro Coston Jr., is on paid administrative leave during an investigation into the crash, CATS officials said.

                   


 
He is a transit veteran with 26 years of experience, including eight years running LYNX light-rail cars, but city transit officials said somehow he forgot to flip a critical switch Saturday then fidgeted with another, accidentally releasing a brake.
 
That sent the streetcar rolling a half-mile downhill.

The operators are dually trained on streetcars and light-rail vehicles, but the two are operated differently. Light-rail cars don't compete with cars and pedestrians on the road like streetcars do.
 
"The light-rail vehicle is operated via key and has a lot of systems that would prevent this from happening," said Gary Lee, CATS rail car maintenance manager
 
The time spent training on the two is not similar at all.
 
Light-rail operators spend 200 hours training, including 160 hours operating the light rail and 40 hours in the classroom.
 
Operators only spend 40 hours of training on the streetcar -- 32 operating hours and eight hours in the classroom, which includes learning the mechanics from a 62-slide PowerPoint presentation.
 
Operators get training from a CATS rail supervisor or other operators who CATS believes are qualified to train.

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Their training material comes from a 72-page trolley manual that briefly explains how to stop the 48,000-pound vehicle in an emergency, which officials said the operator in Saturday's crash missed.
 
Additional operator training has been promised in response to the accident.
 
Right now, CATS officials don't know what that extra training will be, but they sent out a three-point reminder to streetcar operators on how to properly run it to avoid repeating Saturday's mistakes.

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