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Disaster train driver used her emergency brake
Paul Thompson, in Miami24 Jun 2009
The driver of the Washington Metro train that slammed into another, stationary, train had attempted to use an emergency brake shortly before the deadly impact.
Crash investigators said Jeanice McMillan had made a failed attempt to stop her speeding train. Nine people, including McMillan, 42, were killed and more than 70 were injured in the "thunder crash", the worst rail disaster in the US capital.
Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board said the emergency brake was depressed, and rails showed evidence that the brakes were engaged. Investigators also said computers on McMillan's train should have controlled its speed and stopped it before it got too close to the stationary train. It was also revealed that the first two cars of McMillan's train were two months overdue for maintenance of their braking systems.
As the investigation continues today a complete system failure coupled with human error were increasingly looking like the causes of the disaster.
One of the dead was named as the Air Force commander who ordered fighter jets to be scrambled over the US capital after the 9/11 terror attacks. Retired Major General David Wherley, 62, died with his wife Ann, also 62.
