Alan Kolodne, P.E. gave a talk on “Case Study of 3 Rail Accidents with Operational Lessons Learned and New Technology Applications“ on February 24th, 2022. The talk was presented via a WebEx Virtual Meeting.
Speaker Biography: Alan Kolodne is a licensed PE in DC and VA, holds a BS in civil engineering, and has 47 years of project management and construction management experience in the transportation industry. Has spent his entire career in support of Metrorail and other WMATA facility new construction and rehabilitations. Notable Metrorail projects have included Metrorail Station and Line construction contracts (aerial, at grade, and cut and cover subgrade). Additional experience has included program and project management responsibilities for operating structure rehabilitations (including structural station and aerial guideways), station entrance, garage, and various civil facility upgrades. He is extremely experienced and well versed in WMATA’s design criteria, operating procedures (OAP and SOP’s), and safety requirements. He is currently employed by RK&K as a Project Manager on WMATA Projects and assigned to specific tasks in support of facility rehabilitation task orders.
Topic: Case Study of 3 Rail Accidents with Operational Lessons Learned and New Technology Applications: WMATA has faced multiple challenges and accidents over the past few decades. This talk addresses 4 incidents: the Federal Triangle Derailment (1982), Collisions at Shady Grove (1996) and Fort Totten (2009) and the Smoke Incident at L’Enfant Plaza (2015). Each incident is analyzed to understand the cause of failure as well as the steps taken to fix the problem. Finally, the lessons learnt for each accident are analyzed and shortcomings whether individual, systemic, procedural, or managerial are summarized.
