DENVER – Speed appears to a “primary factor” in last month’s derailment of the R Line train that caused a woman's leg to be injured in Aurora, Regional Transportation District (RTD) officials said Friday.
The R Line train derailed at the intersection of South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue on Jan. 28. The had been going south on Sable and turning onto Exposition when it came off the tracks.
RTD officials said that light rail train and other relevant infrastructure involved in the derailment were thoroughly examined with the oversight of the vehicle manufacturer and determined it to be safe.
Additionally, officials said the district had fired the operator of that R Line train, since it was found that the operator was not following safety protocol.
“This unfortunate incident is troubling to me and the whole RTD organization, which is committed to providing safe service every day,” said RTD General Manager and CEO David Genova. “This is an extremely rare situation that we have never experienced in RTD’s nearly 25 years of light rail operation, and we’re doing all we can to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
RTD officials said in the news release they are continuing to work with the Aurora Police Department to finalize the investigation of the train derailment.
Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to show that RTD did not determine the operator in question "acted as trained ... and stopped the train" as that was rather in reference to the operator of a train headed in the opposite direction.
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