Fans of “The Da Vinci Code” novelist flocked to the Louvre in Paris and other sites in Europe that were featured in that book. One church in Scotland, the Rosslyn Chapel, saw a threefold increase in visitors after the book became a bestseller and movie.

Destination DC has launched a Web page at http://www.Washington.org/lostsymbol to help readers explore some of the places and themes that are expected to receive attention from “The Lost Symbol.”

The Washington tourism agency launched the Web page prior to the book’s release Tuesday, using places that were hinted at in advance publicity for the novel. The Capitol building is featured on the book’s cover, and the nearby U.S. Botanic Garden was referenced in a Today Show clue about the novel.

The novel’s plot was not revealed before publication, but the story is believed to be about Freemasons, the centuries-old fraternal organization. Other sites featured on the Washington “Lost Symbol” Web page include an early 20th century Masonic stone temple at the corner of 16th and S streets, and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Va.

———

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By JIM IOVINO

Updated 8:48 PM EDT, Thu, Jul 9, 2009
Related Topics:Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | Adrian Fenty

A Metro train operator recently received a one-week suspension for texting while operating a train, but starting Monday future incidents will result in automatic termination.

Metro Takes Tougher Stance on Texting on the Job
Watch Video

As Metro adopts a no tolerance policy for bus and train operators using cell phones and PDAs on the job, pictures of a sleeping Metro operator surface…

Metro announced the new policy Thursday after at least one incident caught on camera by Metro riders and incidents involving operators on other transit systems across the country.

Meanwhile, in the latest Metro fail, a 14-year-old boy took video of an operator apparently nodding off while a train is speeding down Green Line tracks between College Park and Greenbelt.

The videographer, Gregory Thomas, told Fox5 that the incident happened June 18 and he sent the video to Metro June 23, the day after the deadliest crash in Metro history.

“At first he’s dozing off then, he’s not in a full sleep,” Thomas told Fox. “I see him start to doze off and his head going limp.”

Fox said Metro is reviewing the video and that it wasn’t clear what the operator was doing.

The video follows another YouTube clip of a Metro operator who was videotaped while texting on the job. That operator was suspended from his job for a week without pay.

But starting July 13, Metro’s three-strikes-and-your-out policy will be replaced by a zero-tolerance policy for any Metrobus and Metrorail operators caught using a cell phone, texting or using a PDA while operating a vehicle.

Metro said the current policy was that a first offense resulted in a five-day suspension without pay; the second a 10-day suspension without pay and the third offense resulted in termination. The new policy will be immediate termination. However, it will allow train and bus operators to use personal cell phones during a Metro-defined emergency situation.

Many, including D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, said the suspension of the train operator for texting on the job may not have been enough.

“I think you could make a strong case to fire the person,” Fenty said on his weekly Connecting with the Mayor segment on NBC4. “I can’t imagine there weren’t rules and regulations to govern that internally in WMATA.”

Of course, Fenty has his own Metro problems. The Examiner reported that the District does not have the $50 million it pledged for Metro in joint effort to provide the transit agency with dedicated funding. Where did the money go?

Mayor Adrian Fenty removed the budget item approved in November, according to a council report. Council sources said it was redirected to pay for other items.

A Fenty rep told the Examiner that the mayor is committed to providing its share of the funding, but gave no details on how it would pay it. The District already has an estimated $340 million budget shortfall over the next two years.

More bad publicity for Metro

By JIM IOVINO

Updated 9:01 AM EDT, Wed, Jul 8, 2009

YouTube.com

A YouTube video apparently shows a Metrorail train operator texting on the job.

There’s more bad publicity for Metro after a YouTube video surfaces of a Metro train operator apparently texting while on the job.

Metro officials said the operator was disciplined after video showing him apparently texting while operating a train was posted online.

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the operator was suspended for a week without pay after officials learned of the June 5 incident. A passenger on the blue line in Alexandria apparently recorded the incident with a cellphone camera, then posted it to YouTube.

The poster gave details about what is seen in the video:

It looks like he’s sleeping, but he is actually holding a Blackberry between his legs. The train is moving under automatic control but no one is watching out for what is in front of it! Track workers are frequently out walking the tracks, and if there had been any present, no one would have seen them in front of this train.

This was on the Blue Line towards Franconia-Springfield between King St. and Van Dorn St. on 6/5/09 around 3:55pm.

Farbstein said Metro the operator has already served the suspension.

The incident was posted on YouTube last month and was brought to light Tuesday by local blog Unsuck DC Metro.

Farbstein said operators are prohibited from texting or using cell phones while operating the highly automated system.

Officials said no evidence has been found that the operator killed in last month’s crash on the Red Line was texting.

In other Metro news, the transit organization blasted a Washington Post report on the differences between Metro’s circuit system and the BART system in San Francisco with a posting on its Web site called “The Real Deal.”

In the posting, Metro calls the Post story “misleading” and said the reporters failed to talk to anyone who actually currently works for BART.

While Metro may have a point about the article, is now really the time to bicker with the media?  At the same time Red Line riders continue to deal with delays after THE DEADLIEST CRASH IN METRO HISTORY?

Sounds like Metro really should be worried more about getting its own house in order instead of attacking the Post.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC Washington

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Metro train crash investigators focusing on sensors

Michael Drost (Contact) and Joseph Weber (Contact)

The investigation into Monday’s fatal Metro crash that killed nine people is focusing on radarlike sensors that failed to alert a red line train that other trains were stopped on the track, John B. Catoe Jr., the agency’s general manager, said Tuesday morning.

He said the computerized sensor system is similar to an air-traffic-control system and stops trains when a problem occurs on a track, including when another train is too close. Mr. Catoe said the system also has a mechanical override that did not engage during the afternoon rush-hour crash, but he declined to speculate on why it did not engage.

He said the system worked for several trains along the line, including the one that was stopped and struck.

“Something happened to it,” he said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Mr. Catoe spoke at a press conference in which federal investigators said the southbound train that rammed the stopped train, between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, was composed of older-model cars — known as 1000-series cars — that had been identified as inadequate.

National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said all “perishable data” has been collected in the first phase of the investigation and that the agency will now begin looking at documents, including cell-phone records. An agency spokesman said investigators will review all communications related to portable communication devices, including sending text messages.

Mrs. Hersman said the 1000-series cars do not have the crash-recording devices that were on board the newer, six-car train, which was hit at about 5 p.m. Monday on the red line. The accident also injured at least 70 people.

She said the agency recommended in 2004 and 2006 that such cars be retrofitted or phased out, but Metro has failed to do that.

“The case was closed in an unacceptable status,” Mrs. Hersman said.

She said the agency also recommended recorders be added to the 1000-series cars.

Metro officials announced later in the morning that nine people were killed in the crash — eight unnamed passengers and the operator of the moving train, Jeanice McMillan, 42.

At the press conference, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty could confirm only seven deaths.

Officials have not released the names of other victims but have scheduled a follow-up press conference for 5 p.m.

Chief Dennis L. Rubin of the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said a crane was brought to the crash site at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to begin separating the trains. The last cars of the struck train are underneath the front cars of the striking train.

He described the scene as “in layers” and “horrific.” Chief Rubin also said that two firefighters were injured in the rescue operation and that dogs were sent into surrounding woods to find crash victims.

Mrs. Hersman said the struck train was composed on newer-models cars that had nine data recorders that will help investigators learn exactly what happened.

However, having no recorders on the other train will hurt attempts to learn such key information as how fast it was going and whether the operator attempted to apply the brakes manually.

“We do not expect to get good information off of that train,” Mrs. Hersman said.

She also said nine NTSB investigators are on the scene and will be divided into several units, including a Signal Team; a Mechanical-Records Team; a Track Team, which will look for rail cracks and broken circuits; and a Survival-Factors Team, which will gather such information as how quickly passengers were removed from the wreckage.

Investigators also will try to determine how fast the train was traveling and conduct a “sight-distance” test to attempt to learn whether the train operator could see the stopped train. The accident occurred before twilight on a clear day.

Mrs. Hersman said investigators also will attempt to reconstruct the accident with “exemplar” cars.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty revisited the crash scene after the press conference and said the death toll likely will increase.

“It brought home what an awful tragedy this is,” he said.

WASHINGTON – A Metro train smashed into the back of another at the height of the Monday evening rush hour, killing at least six people and injuring scores of others as cars from the trailing train jackknifed into the air and fell atop the first.One of the fatalities was a female train operator, Metro officials say. The woman’s name has not been released.

D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin says more than 70 people were transported to hospitals. Of those, two people have life-threatening injuries and 50 are classified as “walking wounded” injuries.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says people who believe their loved ones were on the train can dial 311.

“It looks to be the worst Metro accident in D.C. history,” D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty says.

Metro General Manager John Catoe says it appears one of the trains was stopped on the tracks awaiting permission to clear the station when another train came up behind it and slammed into the back of the train.

“I give my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives today,” Catoe says. “This is an incredibly tragic event. We will get to the bottom and find out what happened.”

Rubin says there are about 200-250 firefighters on the scene. The firefighters are working to clear each train car. Two D.C. firefighters were injured, but their injuries are minor, Rubin says.

Authorities have scheduled a news conference for 8 a.m. Tuesday.

D.C. Police are asking everyone to stay away from the scene. Police have closed New Hampshire Avenue from Eastern Avenue to North Capitol Street as authorities investigate.

Metro is advising that people avoid the Red Line for the rest of the day.

The Red Line will be closed between the Silver Spring and Rhode Island stations through the Tuesday morning rush hour.

Shuttle buses will operate between Silver Spring and Rhode Island Avenue stations. Metro buses can hold 50-60 people.

Other Red Line trains will run in manual mode and at reduced speeds.

Washington Hospital Center is treating seven of the injured people, WTOP’s Kate Ryan reports.

The National Transportation Safety Board is now leading the investigation.

The six-car train derailed and then collided with another train on an elevated track between the Takoma Park and Fort Totten stations around 5 p.m. Monday, trapping dozens of passengers.

Each train had six cars and was capable of holding as many as 1,200 people.

Emergency crews from Montgomery, Prince George’s, Fairfax and Arlington counties are responding, Rubin says. Officials are urging people to stay away from the scene.

The trains are “lodged on top of one another,” D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter says. Officials are preparing for a “mass casualty event,” Etter says.

Rescue crews were using heavy duty equipment – including the jaws of life – to cut the train apart to rescue at least 100 people who were trapped, officials say. The extrication process appeared to be over just before 7 p.m.

Rescue workers propped steel ladders up to the upper train cars to help survivors escape. Seats from the smashed cars had spilled out onto the track.

WTOP’s Hank Silverberg, who was on the scene, reports that four cars from one train are on top of the other train, with the front of the cars completely split open.

“It looks like a deck of cards falling on top of one another,” Silverberg says. “It looks almost like the trains hit each other in a head-on collision.”

The trains look like “a tangled roller coaster,” reports WTOP’s Patricia Guadalupe, who is on the scene.

“It looks like an accident at a roller coaster ride,” Guadalupe reports.

Metro spokesperson Candace Smith calls the scene “terrible.”

“One rail car is about a third of the way on top of another rail car,” Smith says.

The train was headed toward the Shady Grove station at the time of the accident, which occurred near the Maryland-D.C. border and the New Hampshire Avenue overpass.

Metro trains typically run through the station around 44 miles per hour, Silverberg reports.

All area hospitals have been advised to expect patients, Etter says.

MARC’s Brunswick Line has been suspended indefinitely because of the derailment. MARC says it is trying to arrange a bus bridge. The derailment has not affected the Penn or Camden lines.

Monday’s incident was the second involving customer fatalities in Metro’s 33-year history. In 1982, three people died after a train derailed between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian stations.

In 2004, two Metro trains collided at the Woodley Park/Zoo-Adams Morgan station, resulting in some minor injuries.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

WASHINGTON – At least two people have died and several people are trapped and injured after a Metro Red Line train derailed and collided with another Metro train, officials say.

The six-car train derailed and then collided with another train between the Takoma Park and Fort Totten stations around 5 p.m. Monday.

The trains are “lodged on top of one another,” D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter says.

Crews are on the scene working to free several people who are trapped in the trains, Etter says.

“We have to make this car stable enough for firefighters to get people out of there,” Etter says.

The train was headed toward the Shady Grove station at the time of the accident, which occurred near the Maryland-D.C. border.

Etter tells WTOP rescue crews are setting up for the “possibility of a mass casualty event.”

All area hospitals have been advised to expect patients, Etter says.

Metro is advising that people avoid the Red Line for the rest of the day.

Trains are operating between Glenmont and Brookland and between Shady Grove and Brookland stations and from Glenmont to Takoma stations for the remainder of the day.

WTOP has a reporter en route to the scene and will have more information as it becomes available.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)

————-

From The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON — Authorities say a six-car train has collided with another train near the Washington and Maryland border, killing at least one person.

D.C. fire spokesman Alan Etter says at least one person was killed and that this is developing into a “mass casualty event.” He says crews are cutting apart the trains to get people out. He says there are severe injuries, but no indication how many.

Spokeswoman Taryn McNeil says the collision happened about 5 p.m. between the Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations on Metro’s red line. The collision happened during rush hour on the transit agency’s busiest rail line.

Officials said it was too early to determine what caused the crash.

Monday’s derailment comes more than two years after a subway train derailed near downtown Washington, sending 20 people to the hospital and prompting the rescue of 60 people from a tunnel.

Copyright © 2009 Associated Press

March 2, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

Now you’ve really done it.

You ruined it for us.

You see, before you came along, today would be a SNOW DAY for the federal government. We’d be home, with our kids, sipping hot cocoa and enjoying the snow.

But no. You had to call us “weather wimps.” You had to compare Washington to Chicago.

And now look: “Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are OPEN under a DELAYED ARRIVAL/UNSCHEDULED LEAVE POLICY [http://www.opm.gov/]. Employees should plan to arrive for work no more than 2 hours later than they would normally arrive.”

With all due respect, sir, that is just plain wrong.

We know what you’re thinking. Half of us are from up North, too. Places like Rochester, N.Y., where we know snow. This storm would be par for the course. No government shutdowns, no school closings. Just sloshing it through the salted and plowed roads on our way to work.

But this is D.C. We’ve gotten spoiled. And we like it that way.

We would be super mad at you, except for one thing: we have kids. And, thankfully, the schools were not fazed by your snow rhetoric. They closed down.

So have fun at the White House today.

We’ll be out front, building a snowman.

Warmest regards,
Your supporters in the federal government

P.S.: Please don’t fire us. The economy still sucks.