Red Line Collision between Ft Totten and Takoma on (6/22/09)

Taken from: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local ... otten.html
http://www.wusa9.com/news/breaking/stor ... &catid=158

There has been a train accident on the Red Line. A train heading in the direction of Shady Grove derailed between Fort Totten and Takoma. This caused a collision with a train heading towards Glenmont around 5pm on June 22. The exact location is on the Langley Park bridge located at 3rd and Ogelthorpe Ave NE.

So far, there are at least 55 injuries and 2 deaths that have been reported. 9 people remain trapped.

For the rest of today, trains on the Red Line will operate between Glenmont and Brookland-CUA, Shady Grove and Brookland-CUA, and then between Glenmont and Takoma. Also, New Hampshire Ave is closed as a result of the accident. Bus bridges are being used to move people between the site.

Story video: http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0609/634125.html

Live video from the scene: http://www.nbcwashington.com/live/?aid= ... d=33044609

Slideshow pictures: http://www.wusa9.com/9slideshows/metro- ... t.aspx?N=2

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Live local coverage in HD from WUSA 9 is here: http://mfile.akamai.com/22330/live/refl ... 181&prop=n
Continuing national coverage is also on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.

This accident definitely involves Rohr 1071 and 1078 from video WUSA has shown. There are CAF 5000 series cars also involved from WUSA video. The Rohr set telescoped similar to the Woodley Park-Zoo accident a few years ago. Preliminary pictures taken show that the Rohr car which landed on top of the other train is also twisted badly. Also reported by WUSA is that 1 person trapped may lose their leg.

One supposed cause also with a derailment mentioned on WUSA may have been a signal failure.

I will post updates as available.

MARC trains are also shut down in the area of the accident at this time as mentioned on WUSA.

WUSA 6:55pm- All people trapped have been removed. 42 people officially have been taken to hospitals in the DC area including Howard U Medical Center, at least 12 being serious. There are no longer active rescues of passengers happening at this time. AP is reporting 2 dead. The press conference will be held later this afternoon. Major delays of 30 mins or more are occurring on all lines.

Channel 9 is now reporting four fatalities according to DCFD, including the female train operator.

I just heard that as well on WUSA. This would make it the deadliest accident since the Federal Triangle accident.

7:10pm- the live press conference is happening now.

One thing I hate about the media,

"D.C. fire spokesman Alan Etter says at least one person was killed and that this is developing into a "mass casualty event." He says crews are cutting apart the trains to get people out." ~Wall Street Journal.

people reading that aren't going to know that in emergency lingo, a "mass casualty incident (or mci)" is simply when the number of patients exceeds the capacity of the responding crew (or in broader terms, more than 10 patients). Reporting it as such is not false, but the use of the word casualty is misleading, as there are many mci's where no one dies.

7:11pm- 4 fatalities confirmed by Mayor Adrian Fenty. This is the now the deadliest accident in the history of Metro (The January 13, 1982 Federal Triangle accident was previously the deadliest with 3 killed). DCFD is still going through the scene and treating passengers. An investigation has begun into the cause.

Beat me to it. This is terrible.

7:13pm- 70 passengers injured. 50 green tagged (minor injuries). 12 yellow tagged (moderate injuries). 2 red tagged (life threatning). 4 black tagged (fatalities). 2 passengers transported by air to local hospitals. Many passengers were able to walk away from the scene on their own.

This is from the WMATA website (still listed as having 2 fatalities, but now at 4):

Two six-car Red Line trains collided at 5 p.m. today, Monday, June 22, resulting in two fatalities, including a female train operator. There were also several injuries, many serious, according preliminary reports.

Metro officials advise that people avoid the Red Line the remainder of the day. Trains are operating between Glenmont and Silver Spring Metrorail stations and between Shady Grove and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail stations for the remainder of the day. (Please note that this is a change in locations.)

Shuttle buses are operating between Silver Spring and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail stations to help customers get around the incident.

Emergency officials remain at the scene.

“We are extremely saddened that there are fatalities as a result of this accident, which has touched our Metro family. We hope to have more details about the casualties later today. Our safety officials are investigating, and will continue to investigate until we determine why this happened and what must be done to ensure it never happens again,” Metro General Manager John Catoe said.

Metro officials do not know the cause of the collision and are not likely to know the cause for several days as the investigation unfolds. Both trains were on the same track headed toward Shady Grove Metrorail station, according to preliminary reports. The female operator was on the trailing train.

The only other time in Metrorail’s 33-year history that there were customer fatalities was in January 1982, when three people died as a result of a derailment between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian Metrorail stations. The only other time that Metrorail had a collision was in 2004 when two trains collided at the Woodley Park/Zoo-Adams Morgan Metrorail station, in which there were some minor injuries.

This is the third of several updates.

Also read that one of the trains derailed and then collided with the other.

7:16pm- John Catoe confirms that a female train operator was 1 of 4 killed in the accident. At 5:02pm, 1 train was stopped to get an order to pass. The other train came up behind and for reasons unknown ended up hitting the back of the train in front. Crews are still searching through the cars to determine if there are any other people still on board. It is not known if there are any other passengers on board at this time. The NTSB is on its way to the scene to investigate. No single tracking was happening at the time of the accident. The Red Line may be shut down through tomorrow while the remainder of the system will remain in operation. No other comments are being made at this time by John Catoe.

People with loved ones who may have been in the accident can contact 202-727-9099 for information. A briefing will occur tomorrow.

7:30pm- Additional rescue personnel have been brought in from Fairfax City, Arlington, and Montgomery County to assist DCFD.

7:34pm: Metro has now closed the red line between Rhode Island Ave-Brentwood and Silver Spring. 9 shuttle busses are replacing trains between those stations. This replaces trains running to Brookland-CUA or Takoma as earlier posted in the afternoon.

Apparently the trains were inbound (destination D.C.), so there weren't nearly as many passengers as pure usual on peak hour outbound trains.

CSX trains have been stopped in both directions at the scene as well.