Metro superintendent returns to job following crash

WASHINGTON -- The top Metro official in charge of the train control systems designed to prevent crashes is back at his normal position.

Matthew Matyuf, Metro's superintendent of the Automatic Train Control Division, was reassigned to a "special project" just days after the deadly crash on the Red Line on June 22. As of Monday, Matyuf is back on the job, WTOP has learned.

The investigation into the deadliest accident in Metro's history has largely focused on a breakdown with the track circuits designed to "recognize" when a train is present.

In testings after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said a circuit in the section of track between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations on the Red Line periodically "fluttered," failing to register that a train was on the tracks. That breakdown could have been crucial, "telling" the striking train that there was no train ahead, when in fact there was.

Since that finding, federal investigators have issued an urgent safety recommendation that a brand new train protection system -- one that reports track and communication issues in real-time -- be implemented throughout the Metro system.

Trains have been operating in the slower, manual mode since the crash.

The NTSB continues to investigate the crash and has not yet found the root cause of the accident.

Then why was Matyuf reassigned? Sources tell WTOP that investigators did not want him to be so closely involved with the investigation -- but the investigation is at such a point, Metro believes it is okay for him to get back to his regular, assigned duties.

"It is like when a bus operator gets removed after an accident," said a source. "They have to determine if the crash was preventable or not preventable."

When asked for comment, the NTSB said it "does not get involved in the personnel matters of other organizations."

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