Incidents on the Washington Metro
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has been criticized for disregarding safety warnings and advice from experts.
[2] The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found that the crash was a result of a failure in the train's computer-controlled braking system.
The NTSB recommended that Metro grant train operators the ability to manually control the braking system, even in inclement weather.
[10][11] At 4:27 am on November 29, 2009, a collision occurred between two out-of-service trains at the Falls Church rail yard in Fairfax County, Virginia.
[24] On November 30, 2006, two Metro employees were struck and killed by a Metrorail train while performing routine track maintenance on the Yellow Line near Eisenhower Avenue station.
WMATA subsequently limited when track inspections can take place and lowered train speeds to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) when within 600 feet (180 m) of inspectors.
[27] The incident occurred halfway between the Dunn Loring and Vienna stations on the western end of the Orange Line in Fairfax County.
[28] On September 10, 2009, Metro employee John Moore was struck between the Braddock Road and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport stations.
[29] On January 26, 2010, two Metro employees Jeff Garrard, 49 and Sung Oh, 68 were found dead when they were hit by a piece of track equipment at the Rockville station.
The incident occurred shortly after midnight in a work zone on the outbound (Glenmont direction) track approximately 400 feet (120 m) from the Union Station platform towards Judiciary Square.
On June 7, 2005, a train operator in the tunnel beneath the Potomac River, between the Foggy Bottom–GWU and Rosslyn stations, had a signal to proceed but noticed red lights ahead and engaged the emergency brakes.
[75] On January 12, 2015, during early evening rush, a Yellow Line train departing L'Enfant Plaza for Pentagon began to fill with smoke.
Later in the afternoon rush hour, more smoke was reported from an arcing insulator at Woodley Park station causing service to be suspended between Dupont Circle and Van Ness.
Red Line trains were then forced to operate on a single track between Friendship Heights and Van Ness due to another arcing insulator failure.
The crew extinguished the fire but operators on trains that were carrying passengers were told to do a track inspection of the vicinity before the smoke can clear out.
The man was captured on closed circuit television forcing open the doors of the stopped train and running down the platform with a young child in hand.
In accordance with Metro procedures, the entire line on which the train had stopped was secured with teams dispatched to review the situation.
After two incidents of concrete chunks and metal falling from the mezzanine ceiling, Metro announced the temporary closure of the station pending emergency investigation.
[1] In October 2015, following several safety lapses, the Federal Transit Administration assumed oversight of WMATA with the authority to conduct inspections and impose sanctions.
