Rail crash highlights aging transit system

WASHINGTON, June 26 (UPI) -- The recent deadly railway crash in Washington has highlighted the need for an upgrade of portions of the country's aging railway system, experts say.

Deron Lovass, Natural Resources Defense Council federal transportation director, said the collision of two D.C. Metro rail cars is evidence of how little funding has been spent upgrading the country's transit system compared with U.S. highways, Time magazine reported online Friday.

"This does draw attention to the fact that we need to invest a lot more in our transit system," Lovass said. "Our highway system is world class, but we've neglected public transit along the same way."

The Federal Transit Administration tabbed more than a third of the equipment used by the top U.S. rail transit agencies with either marginal or poor ratings this spring, Time reported.

Federal officials said one of the rail cars involved in Monday's deadly collision in Washington did not have modernized equipment that could have prevented the accident.

"The Metro, like most of our larger public-transit systems, has suffered from a lack of public resources," David Goldberg, Transportation for America communications director, told Time.