The train accident in DC on Monday night of this week left a lot of people in the area with a bag of nerves. I am one of those commuters. I take the Red Line twice a day to get to work. Though I am glad I wasn't on there during the accident, my heart goes out to the nine people who died and the countless others who were injured.

Shortly after the accident people were speculating that the conductor, Sister Jeanice McMillan, a member of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 689 was either on her cell phone or text messaging. An NTSB investigation proved that she had her phone in her bag, that she tried to stop the train, and that the equipment - ultimately - failed. The Washinton Post reported: The operator of the Metro train that slammed into a stationary train in front of it apparently had activated the emergency brakes in in a failed effort to stop before the accident, federal officials said yesterday as they searched for the cause of Monday's Red Line wreck that killed nine and injured 80.

The last televised report that I heard about the accident said that Metro was running 30 year-old trains that were not fully equipped with the most modern equipment, and that a sensor they have installed along the route failed. I have a strong feeling that Metro is going to start getting the much needed funding it needs to make a clean operation even more safe than it is. I, for one, would not mind if the whole system is nationalized for this reason.

The commute home from the District Monday night was a nightmare. No one had any idea as to how people were going to get routed out of the City. For a while it seemed like chaos. I was fortunate all around -- I got two rides that got me home safely. Though it took about three hours, I was just happy I was not on either of the two trains that crashed. Still, it is hard to not think of my neigbors who were on that train.  I seem to be thinking of them every time I get on the train to get to work and back.

On Thursday I found out about two of the victims, besides the driver.

The SEIU Blog reported: SEIU 32BJ member Ana Fernandez was one of the nine confirmed dead after the tragic Metro crash in Washington this week. To help make ends meet for her family of six children, Ana was on her way to her second job as a janitor at a building downtown when the crash happened.

The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild reported: Mary "Mandy" Doolittle, a Guild member with the American Nurses Association bargaining unit, was killed June 22 in the crash in Washington, D.C., involving two Metro trains on the Red Line. Mandy worked with ANA in its International Division. She started out as an administrative assistant in March 1998 and worked most recently as a Senior Program Specialist.

I am safe in speaking for all the Union Review community in saying this online community of workers sends its condolences for those who've past, and wish a speedy recovery for those injured in this accident.