A TOO-CLOSE CALL AT BWI

BECAUSE NOBODY was killed when a four-car light-rail train crashed into a
terminal building at Baltimore-Washington International Airport Tuesday,
the story might not have gotten much attention after initial reports.

But death shouldn't be a requirement for thoroughly investigating an
accident such as this; it could have been a disaster.

What's more, it wasn't the first crash of a train on this line at almost
the same spot, and it wasn't the first collision involving this driver.

These reasons alone justify the detailed investigation by the National
Transportation Safety Board as well as meetings being held by the transit
workers union and the Mass Transit Administration to explore new
drug-safety rules for bus and train drivers.

Although there is no evidence that illegal drugs played any role in this
latest crash, the driver told his supervisor before boarding the train that
he was taking a prescription muscle relaxant.

The president of the local transit union said the driver also reported to
federal investigators that he was given the go-ahead to work. After the
accident, he said he had "blacked out." Investigators did not indicate
whether the relaxant could have impaired the driver's operating skills, but
tighter procedures might have answered this question before the driver took
the controls.

Another cause for possible concern at that point: MTA officials report that
this driver had received a three-day suspension after the minor derailment
of an empty train in a rail yard on July 7, 1999. He also was involved in
two other accidents--collisions of trains and vehicles at crossings,
neither of which caused injuries--that were found not to be his fault, MTA
officials said.

The train operator in a similar BWI crash on Feb. 13 was fired after
admitting that he had been taking a prescription painkiller without
notifying his supervisor; a day later, drug tests showed cocaine in his
system. Little wonder that MTA officials now are calling for tougher
testing requirements and sanctions.

MTA Administrator Ronald L. Freeland is urging the immediate firing of any
employee in a dangerous occupation who is found to be using illegal drugs;
longer suspensions for other employees who test positive for illegal drugs
and termination for a second offense; and stepped-up testing.

Ennis Founder Jr., president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300,
maintains that engineers and drivers who test positive once for illegal
drugs should be given another chance at operating a train or bus. Current
MTA rules allow them to return to work after a 15-day suspension and
mandatory participation in a drug rehabilitation program.

The rules ought to be tightened.

Both Metro and railroads under the Federal Railroad Administration require
immediate suspensions, treatment programs and longer probations before
"safety sensitive" employees may resume their jobs. The MTA and the union
should work out a similar set of rules before a deadly accident occurs.