Light rail riders never knew the danger they faced. 11 News has learned METRO has put trains on the wrong tracks twice in the last two weeks, which could have caused head‑on collisions.

“That’s not good. That’s not good at all,” said regular passenger Opal Davis. “It’s very scary and it’s unsafe.”

The first incident happened on May 9 at 8:30 a.m. near the Smith Lands station by Reliant Stadium.

A three-man crew working on the switches mistakenly left one open allowing a northbound train over on the southbound track. The train operator went an entire station before stopping with 180 passengers.

The train operator and the maintenance crew were suspended.

One of them resigned.

Then, six days ago on May 15, another switching mistake.

A train leaving the Fannin South station was given clearance to go north but stopped after the operator heard the same command given to a southbound train.

A METRO supervisor at Transtar was suspended for making the mistake.

“Mistakes were made in this situation,” said John Sedlak, METRO Vice President. But the riding public was never in danger, he added.

After we started asking about the close calls, METRO went public and called a late afternoon news conference to explain the problems.

METRO admits this is the first time switching mistakes have been made on its three-year-old light rail system, which has already overcome other embarrassing problems.

METRO has two simultaneous investigations underway.

In the end a half dozen employees including two supervisors were suspended.

Plus, it has sent five operators back to training.