Light Rail Train Crashes at Airport
L I N T H I C U M, Md., Aug. 16 -- A light rail train carrying passengers toBaltimore-Washington International Airport slammed into a steelsafety barrier outside the airport’s International Pier on Tuesday,injuring 22 people.
The 7:15 a.m. accident was the second this year involving alight rail train approaching the stop at the busy airport.
Officials did not know how many passengers were on the train,but said most of the 22 injured were in the front car with theoperator, identified as Dentis David Thomas.
Passengers were treated mainly for bruises, back and neck painand contusions.
Operator ‘Blacked Out’
Thomas, who has driven light-rail trains since 1994, told policethat he “blacked out” while pulling into the station, accordingto a police report. He was treated for minor injuries and submittedto drug and alcohol tests immediately after the accident, officialssaid. Results of those tests were not available.
The wreck left the front of the train crushed and ridden up ontothe abutment at the end of the line, damaging the roof of theterminal, Mass Transit Administration spokesman Frank Fulton said.Investigators had not ruled out mechanical failure as the cause ofthe crash, he said.
Stephen Allen, chief of the airport fire and rescue department,said when firefighters arrived, there were people both inside andoutside the train, with some lying on the ground outside.
Robert Davis, a passenger who injured his shoulder, said he hadto manually open a door on the train to leave the car after thecrash.
“The train started to slow down, I got up to get off, and itsped back up,” Davis said.
Thomas, a 26-year veteran of the MTA, has had his driving recordcome under scrutiny after three minor accidents in 13 months.
Maryland Transit Administrator Ronald Freeman said Thomas wascleared in two of the incidents where motor vehicles ran into histrain at rail crossings. But in July 1999, Thomas was suspended forthree days after a car he was driving derailed in a railyard.
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