WASHINGTON - Sources tell ABC 7 News there are significant new findings on what led to the breakdown on Metro last Monday.

Two sources who must remain anonymous because they are close to the investigation allege that Metro technicians knew about a serious circuit problem on the track five days before the deadly accident and that they allegedly reported the problem to supervisors days before nine people lost their lives.

On June 17, the sources say several technicians discovered a circuit component near the accident scene, known as a Wee-Z bond, was not working properly. Metro explains that particular circuit communicates train speed and distance between the tracks, trains, and the operations control center.

The sources explain there was bobbing in the circuit, meaning it was intermittently dropping out and could possibly be unable to detect a train on the track.

Five days later, a train was stopped on that track waiting for another to clear the station ahead. The sources say the system failed to alert an oncoming train, #112, that there was a train stopped in front of it.

According to the sources, #112 did not go into automatic protection mode and it collided into the back of the stopped train. The investigation has since revealed the operator herself tried to engage the emergency brakes 450 feet before the point of impact to no avail. The operator and eight passengers were killed.

Sources say the technicians all claimed they notified supervisors and Metro's maintenance operations center about the circuit problem five days before that collision and that the information was entered into Metro's maintenance computer database.

NTSB investigators ran a test after the accident and reported finding a circuit that failed to detect a test train at the same location as the train that was struck on June 22.

Earlier Wednesday, Metro said the circuit had been replaced on June 17 during routine maintenance and that a computer review of circuit data done after the accident did reveal the circuit problem.

When asked if Metro was aware of any problems on the track prior to the accident beyond what was looked at on the computer, Metro's Lisa Farbstein said, "I am not aware -- no one has shared with me. I wouldn't have access to those types of memos if there were -- I am not saying there were -- I just honestly don't know."

But when asked about this new information Wednesday night, a spokesman refused to comment citing the ongoing investigation.

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