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"Human error" caused a Metro train to derail just after midnight on June 16, according to Metro officials, but engineers from Arup, a firm hired to assist in the investigation, say that Metro needs to implement a safer lubrication system on the rails.

Pictures from the investigation, released by Metro at a press conference this afternoon, show gouge marks on
the concrete and rail along the stretch of track where the derailment occurred. Metro plans to test the track "to verify its structural integrity" with ultrasound, a yearly test that costs about $3,500.

Steve Clark, and engineer with Arup, says that these kinds of accidents don't happen very often, adding, "It's unusual for us to get involved in derailment investigations."

Photo by Craig Malisow

A Harris County grand jury on Monday no-billed the Metro officer who shot and killed a knife-weilding man who had threatened at least one Metro passenger. Accidentally shot in the May 5 incident was Guadalupe Acosta, who subsequently sued Metro.

Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert revealed the grand jury's decision not to indict Officer R.L. Harrington at a press conference today.

"We're confident that Officer Harrington did exactly what he was supposed to do," Lambert said.

The Houston Police Department investigated the shooting. Although Lambert said he read HPD's report, he said it would not be "appropriate" for him to comment on the findings.

Lambert and Metro Spokesman George Smalley also refuted claims raised by Acosta and her attorney.

We weren't really surprised to learn that the saga of The Great Metro Shooting is once again grabbing headlines, this time with the news that the bystander who was shot now plans on suing Metro.

Guadalupe Acosta, a nanny, told the Chron she was shot in the shoulder as she was pushing the toddler she cared for around the Rice University jogging path. And she said no one from Metro ever apologized or expressed sympathy. Since Metro ain't talking, Hair Balls can only speculate that that was a legal tactic -- i.e., don't apologize, because that can be interpreted as guilt. Well, besides just being indecent, it appears to have been a tactic that came back to bite Metro in the ass.

Acosta told Hair Balls that she wouldn't have sued if Metro had apologized and offered to cover her medical expenses; of course, she could be full of it, but c'mon -- you get shot while you're pushing a toddler, for heaven's sake, and no one even says "Whoops -- my bad"?

Acosta said the only time she heard from Metro was when Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert questioned in her in the hospital the day of the shooting.

Photo by Mike Giglio

Lomax, keeping to his strict warm-up regimen for the big race

It was to be the ultimate contest between man and machine.
 
Hair Balls announced in earnest at this afternoon's staff meeting its plans to sample the new 402 Quickline Bellaire, which was unveiled by Metro on Friday. The so-called "signature" bus -- the first of its kind in Houston -- runs along the standard Number 2 Bellaire route during rush hour, making far fewer stops in order to travel at a heretofore unimaginable pace.
 
At this, staff writer John Nova Lomax produced an audible scoff.
 
"I could beat that on my bike," Lomax said.
 
And so Hair Balls loaded Lomax's 18-year-old bicycle into the bed of its pick-up and headed for the TMC Transit Center, where the Quickline's westbound service begins. Lomax smoked a cigarette as he waited at the station for the race to begin.
 
It was here Hair Balls learned that Lomax's confidence was drawn less from his prowess on the pedals than the fact that the road between the station and his house, about one-and-a-half miles away along the route, is plagued by construction. Lomax used to be able to beat the traffic on foot, he claimed. It has since alleviated some, but he predicted a handy victory all the same.
 

Photo by pfrench99

Metro's announced they'll be doing track maintenance this weekend, so if you're planning on cruising the light rail through downtown, think again.

There will be no service between the Downtown Transit Center and UH-Downtown from 5:30 am til 2 pm on both Saturday and Sunday, Metro's Carolina Mendoza says. Instead riders will get to experience the luxury of connector buses, which will run every 15 minutes.

Light-rail service won't be affected between Fannin South and the DTC, by the way.

But plan accordingly.

Metro has announced a raft of changes to their bus schedules, mostly beginning this weekend.

There are far too many to detail, so look for the info relevant to you here. The biggest thing we saw was the Medical Center circulating bus will no longer be circulating.

Worry not about all these tweaks, however; they are for your own good. Many, in fact, are described as moves made to "Adjust trip times for more reliable service." So what could go wrong?

Metro says the moves involve "simplifying...routes for better mobility in busy thoroughfares."

Check it out to see how much you will be inconvenienced.

With it just being Memorial Day Weekend and all, perhaps it's not the best timing for this post, but what the hell.

On May 2, Rice employee and local historian Lauren Meyers was riding the MetroRail up to the Fleetwood Mac concert at Toyota Center. At some point, she violated one of Metro's ticky-tack rules by taking a sip of bottled water. It's a rare train ride that you don't see someone do that; hell we've been known to even drink coffee on the train, and we once saw a clever guy put a Colt 45 tall boy inside a to-go cup and then punch a straw through the lid and into the can.

So yeah, it's usually live and let live on there. Even the drivers seem to ignore all but blatant boozing.

But not the curmudgeonly vet in the clip below. Evidently, he didn't slog through the frozen mud of the Battle of the Bulge so people like Meyers could wantonly swill Ozarka on light-rail trains. As Meyers put it on her blog, he fought so that people like her would obey the rules.

We reported yesterday on things looking up for Metro, but today Hair Balls learned that our transit authority is violating the federal government's definition of civil rights.

According to a letter dated April 27, the Federal Transit Administration conducted a Title VI Compliance Review of Metro earlier this year, which, among other things, ensures "that the level and quality of transportation service is provided without regard to race, color, or national origin" and evaluates the "social and economic effects of programs and activities on minority populations and low-income populations."
 
Twenty-six different transit authorities have been reviewed since 2002, according to the FTA's web site, but this was the first in Houston. Metro has until the end of this month to respond to a preliminary report on the Title VI civil rights violations, according to the letter.

Hair Balls hasn't seen the report, and a representative from Metro hasn't been available for comment so it's impossible to know the nature of the violations. But several Houstonians, including Tom Bazan, have filed complaints with the federal civil rights office about the dwindling level of bus service to low-income areas in favor of pouring "delicate precious resources" into new light-rail lines.

"There's supposed to be a watch dogs for stuff like this," Bazan tells Hair Balls. "I think most of the watch dogs have had their nests feathered by Metro."

Photo by pfrench99

More news -- good or bad depending on your side of the fence -- about Metro's planned light-rail lines came today when board chairman David Wolff announced that Metro has all but got its first funding agreement from the Federal Transit Administration.

For 2010, the feds listed the North and Southeast corridors as two of the five recommended projects on its budget, and Metro is set to get $75 million for each.  

Construction on both lines could start as early as June, Wolff said.

Metro expected and announced it would have the funding agreement by the end of last year, but that didn't happen.

"We got out-politicked. This is the first time we haven't had a dysfunctional delegation," Wolff told Hair Balls, referring to anti-rail US Reps like Tom DeLay. "It was like walking into a gun fight down an alley. You'd want to walk somewhere more peaceful. The places that were more peaceful got the money."

Photo by Olivia Flores Alvarez

Earlier we told you about the obstacle course Metro had managed to create at its bus stop near 290 and Antoine.

Today we tell you how the Houston Press gets results!! For you!!

As promised, the bus stop in question was been moved from between the cement bench and street sign (where it was inaccessible to everyone) to a more rider-friendly spot a few feet north. Now riders can approach the stop without having to crawl over any impediments. It should be noted that the stop was moved within just three business days of our notifying Metro of the situation.