Metro aware of track flaws a year before July derailment: NTSB

Washington

METRO knew of track flaws more than a year before a July derailment, and the agency's track inspectors may have contributed to the crash by falsifying inspection reports month after month, according to documents released on Thursday by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB confirmed that the July 29 derailment of the Silver Line train outside East Falls Church, Virginia, was caused by "wide gauge", a condition in which the rails expand in such a way that they cannot support a train. No one was seriously injured, but the train sustained about US$150,000 in damage.