Washington Post, “Metro Girds for Flood of Lawsuits Expected Over Deadly Crash“:

It took just two days after last month’s deadly Metro crash for the first personal injury lawsuit to be filed in federal court. Five others have followed, one seeking as much as $25 million in damages. Legal experts said the number of liability claims for the crash, which killed nine and injured 80, can be expected to rise for months and, perhaps, years.

Legal damages could run into the tens of millions of dollars and, if negligence is proved and punitive damages awarded, they could easily reach into the hundreds of millions, legal analysts said. Wherever federal authorities place responsibility for the tragedy, plaintiffs will be seeking money, first and foremost, from Metro.

Earlier post on the Metro suits and the litigation industry.

Terrible accident. Our sincere condolences to those who lost loved ones on the train, and to the injured, best wishes on a quick recovery.

For all the problems daily newspapers have these days, they are still the best-equipped news organizations for telling a story of this nature — especially when they use the tools of the new media, including blogs.

The Washington Post’s “Get There” transportation and commuting blog is posting regular updates, including the highlights of a just-completed news conference:

• There were no black boxes on the train that hit the stationary train, so no data will be available from that train
• There were 9 event recorders on the train that was struck, so that data will eventually be recovered,
• NTSB will be looking at possible mechanical causes, signalling and operator training among other issues.
• Perhaps most significant: NTSB says it told Metro after the 2004 crash that it should put event recorders on the 1000 series of trains, and should make them more crashworthy. Metro did not do so. The 1000 series comprises about 30 percent of the fleet, and is being phased out. Metro head John Catoe did not have an immediate response about why those recommendations were not followed, but said the agency would do a full investigation.

Our only observation would be that if an institution can’t do the little things right — for example, escalator repair — the odds are greater that eventually big things go wrong, too.

Auguries for a complete collapse of the Metro on the day of the Inaugural were in abundance last week, and the recent, frequent failings of the mass transit system have been documented on the blog, here, here and here.

Well, it was a record, Million Passenger Day (probably a million), and Metro hung together. From the D.C. Examiner, “Metro soars past ridership records.” Stations near the Mall were overwhelmed at the end of events, but that happens on the Fourth of July, too.

Our own experience was pretty good. Metro ran buses straight down Connecticut Avenue to Dupont Circle, and after the first three passed by full, another one stopped with plenty of room. So an hour to NAM-HQ? Not bad.

By the time we left, 7 p.m., the Red Line trains at Metro Center were at maybe 20 percent capacity. The bus ran late, but, eh…

So all in all,  acceptable performance. Really, no need to request FEMA disaster aid.

From the D.C. Examiner, “Emergency declared in D.C. to allow for more federal aid“:

President Bush has declared an emergency in the District of Columbia for the inauguration of his successor — an unprecedented move that will allow federal funds and disaster resources to flow more freely to local agencies, according to a FEMA spokesman.

The declaration was requested by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who warns that inauguration crowds could overwhelm area hospitals and emergency responders.

Terry Monrad, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said similar declarations have only ever been pre-approved for natural disasters like hurricanes.

When reviewing Fenty’s request for extra federal aid, the agency looked at “if D.C. [on its own] would have the capabilities and resources to meet critical emergency protective requirements,” said FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin, and judged that it would not.

We can see why the Bush Administration would do this, trying to avoid more unflattering press comparisons to FEMA’s handling of Katrina, even if it’s the D.C. government that messes up. But is this what Congress had in mind when it wrote the law?

Meanwhile, talk about material that just writes itself: “X event a disaster”…etc.

BTW, we’ve been plugging the Washington Post’s coverage of the Inauguration, but the other media outlets in the city really have been doing a good job too. In today’s Examiner, there’s another worthwhile piece, relating a dose of reality, “Metro GM warns ‘something will happen’ to system on Jan. 20.”

And…

UPDATE (1:45 p.m.): White House press secretary Dana Perino comments on the disaster declaration at today’s White House briefing:

Q Dana, two questions, thank you. One, how can you explain to people around the globe as far as presidential emergency declaration, because many of them do not understand or misunderstood.

MS. PERINO: Okay. I can understand why because of its title, but under the law, the city or state or the District of Columbia can ask the administration, whichever administration it is, for more funds or access to more funds in case they need it in order to be able to protect people for some major event, whether it be a natural disaster or something like the Super Bowl — I don’t know if anybody has ever actually done that. But obviously this inauguration is going to bring a huge number of crowds, and there’s going to be a large amount of security. And therefore, we thought it was appropriate that when Mayor Fenty asked President Bush for access to additional funds that we’d provide it.

From today’s front page, Washington Post, “Virginians See Bridge Closings As Dose of Northern Hospitality“:

“First was the hysteria of announcing over 4 million people might be flooding the Mall. Later, they amend that number by half. Then they announce there will be no parking, few toilets and that everyone will be standing and waiting for hours. Then they tell people not to bring children and, finally, they close all the bridges,” fumed Virginian Holly Kenney. “Do they think we’re dense? Clearly, the public is no longer welcome.”

But to some business and political leaders in the region, the plan represents more than a snub. They are concerned that the unprecedented closings and restrictions will turn away visitors, hurt businesses and employees, and tip the balance too far toward security over access.

The plan unveiled by the Secret Service and area transportation officials Wednesday closes all Virginia bridges across the Potomac and interstates 395 and 66 inside the Beltway to personal vehicles. It also cordons off a large section of downtown Washington to help manage the unprecedented crowds expected. Maryland, in contrast, has no planned road closures.

Guess asking too much to expect the re-opening of Pennsylvania Avenue between 15th and 17th.

If crowds are the big threat, seems like the easier approach would be to have a massive, systemwide failure of public transit. Sort of like today’s Metro snafus on the Red Line — “an emergency situation,” i.e., mechanical failure, that lead to such comments from the announcements as, “Customers on the platforms, this train is crowded.” Customers? Metro should follow the example of the coffee chains around here and refer to the masses as “guests.” We used to be called “passengers,” but apparently that’s too theoretical.

If people complain at the delays, well, Metro can just claim it’s the fault of the cheap federal and local governments. More from the Post, “Metro Facing Layoffs, Cutbacks“:

Metro faces a 13 percent shortfall in its $1.3 billion operating budget for next year, and officials have suggested cutting almost 900 positions and enacting the largest-ever cuts in train, bus and paratransit service, even as transit ridership in the region and across the country is soaring.

Agency officials said the budget difficulties reflect the grim economic reality facing local and state governments, which provide a substantial portion of Metro’s funds. Transit agencies across the country also are facing service cuts.

Add it to the economic stimulus.

Forced humor aside, Metro plans to beef up for the inaugural events, “Bus Service to Grow For Jan. 20 Crowds“:

Metro is running 23 special bus corridors on Inauguration Day to carry 300,000 people in and out of downtown Washington who might not be able to get onto jammed Metro trains or live too far to walk to inaugural events, officials said yesterday.

We’ll take that under advisement.

Finally, the Post is doing a bang-up job of covering the inauguration, packaging coverage at Inauguration Central.