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In reversal, city manager says he was notified of derailment the day it happened

By Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com
By Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE — After the city of Charlotte disclosed the May 2022 derailment nearly a year after it happened, Channel 9 asked when City Manager Marcus Jones first learned of the issue. A spokesperson for the city said Jones learned about the incident last month, the same time Interim CEO Brent Cagle did. In a rare news conference Thursday afternoon, Jones said he made “an honest mistake.” He says former CATS CEO John Lewis texted him the day the train derailed.

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“This surprised me,” he said. “This is something I missed, and I do not recall receiving this text. It is not my intent to misinform anyone.”

The text message, according to Jones, said, “FYI, we just had a minor derailment of the Blue Line train heading northbound at Archdale station. Middle set of wheels came off the track. 36 people on board, no injuries. We have a bus bridge in place while we investigate.”

Jones says he either missed the text or failed to acknowledge its significance. He says he didn’t receive any other messages about the incident. He says in an ideal world, he would have discussed the incident with CATS leadership.

“The key here is based on their actions. CATS leadership did not think that the May 21,2022, incident warranted escalation beyond that one text,” he said. “The way this was constructed with the concept of minor derailment either didn’t register with me or is something I totally missed.”

In the Thursday afternoon news conference, Jones outlined four steps the city is taking to review CATS and restore trust. Jones is requesting the Federal Transit Agency to conduct an off-cycle, expedited, review of CATS. The most recent FTA review took place in 2022.

“I have asked Mr. Cagle to request the FTA begin this review with a particular focus on the May 2022 event and whether protocol was followed,” he said. “Included in the focus will be CATS budgetary and maintenance processes.”

Jones is referring the oversight of a comprehensive review of CATS to the transit committee and requesting a work group be established to take a deep dive into the agency. He is suspending the CEO search for six months.

“I believe Mr. Cagle and his team has CATS on the right path and I want to focus our attention on staying on that path while creating assurances for staff that the leadership team will be in place for a while as this work continues,” he said.

Jones is also working with city leaders to provide more resources and personnel support to CATS.

As CATS attempts to regain public trust, Jones says the city will continue to pursue a sales tax increase for transit and continue to craft a regional transit expansion plan. But he said the referendum is unlikely to happen this session.

“I believe it would be challenging to ask this legislative session,” he said.

Under the new leadership of Cagle, CATS has started to peel back layers of secrecy. City leaders say they recognize they have a long journey ahead to rebuild public trust.

“It is difficult to be at this point today, having this discussion, but we believe we are at the right path,” Jones said.

City Councilman Ed Driggs says the city placed reliance in the wrong people.

All three of the top CATS brass from last year, John Lewis, Allen Smith and Blanche Sherman, are now off the job. Driggs says despite it all, he has confidence in the safety of the trains and so should riders

“If the trains were not safe. If there was an issue, they wouldn’t be running,” he said.

(WATCH BELOW: Transit commission asks city council to approve an investigation into CATS safety)

Transit commission asks city council to approve an investigation into CATS safety

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