Ventilation in Rail Tunnels Still Inadequate

Despite the installation of high-powered exhaust fans, state safety inspectors said Saturday that ventilation in the Metro Rail system is still inadequate and ordered that the underground tunnels remain closed until air circulation improves.

A Cal/OSHA engineer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he was not surprised by the results of the inspection and doubted that work crews could make sufficient improvements by the time inspectors return Monday.

“If they can get it together by Monday, fine,” the engineer said. “If it’s a month, that’s their problem. We’re not going to let them reopen until the condition is corrected.”

Los Angeles County Transportation Commission officials, who had to halt work Thursday because of noxious fumes collecting in the incomplete tunnels, had hoped the fans would enable them to pass Cal/OSHA’s inspection.

But by the time inspectors gathered to walk the length of the 4.4-mile subway system Saturday morning, only four fans--two each at the Union Station and Wilshire/Alvarado stops--were in place.

A set of six fans that county officials had expected to be in operation at 7th and Flower streets was not turned on, apparently because of miscommunication, they said. Other fans that would have helped ventilation in the twin tunnels could not be activated because the wiring is not yet in place.

A project manager at the scene of the inspection said engineers would have to study the configuration of the tunnels to determine where portable fans could be most effectively installed. He also said that around-the-clock work crews would begin hooking up electrical lines today so that more of the system’s permanent fans will be in operation.

“Something better be in place by Monday,” said John Adams, vice president of Rail Construction Corp., which is overseeing the project for the LACTC. “But right now, it would be premature to speculate.”

Cal/OSHA inspectors relied on two devices to test ventilation in the underground system. One was called an anemometer, a hand-held sensor that electronically measures the speed of air circulation.

The other is known as “the smoke tube test,” in which a contraption looking something like a turkey baster emits a small ball of smoke that can be tracked to determine how fast the air is traveling.

California safety regulations require that air in such tunnels be circulating at a rate of at least 30 cubic feet per minute. Although tests Saturday showed that circulation was up to 60 cubic feet per minute in some sections, officials said, there were nooks in the tunnels that recorded virtually no air movement.

“Overall, they were unhappy with what they found,” Adams said. “You ever have a cop give you a ticket? That’s exactly how they act.”

The problem was detected after Cal/OSHA received complaints from some of the project’s 390 workers, who were concerned about the tunnels’ air quality because of diesel machinery being used underground.

Inspectors took air samples Tuesday, then again Thursday, before issuing a stop-work order. Orange tags warning people to stay out of the tunnels, which stretch from the Los Angeles River to MacArthur Park, were placed at entryways along the route.

Ventilation is the latest safety problem to hit the $3.9-billion project, which is millions of dollars over budget and at least 18 months behind schedule. Since last summer, the subway system has been troubled by fire, accidents and leaks in the plastic tunnel liner.