By Ian Shapira and Steven Ginsberg
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 6, 2006

Thousands of riders were delayed by hours and five people sustained minor injuries yesterday when a Virginia commuter train derailed just north of Quantico in Prince William County.

The engine and three cars of Virginia Railway Express train No. 304, which was carrying 520 passengers between Fredericksburg and Union Station, jumped the tracks at 6:43 a.m. just north of a switch point near Quantico Creek.

The derailed cars came to a stop just feet from the track and were tilted but did not overturn, preventing serious injuries.

"Some days you thank your lucky stars, and this is one of those days," said Wendy Lemieux, a VRE spokeswoman. "We're pleased and fortunate there were no serious injuries."

Three passengers and a conductor were taken to Potomac Hospital with minor injuries such as bruises and small cuts, according to Capt. Tim Taylor, a spokesman for the Prince William Fire and Rescue Department. A fifth person was treated at the scene, he said.

The other passengers stayed on board for more than two hours, until about 9 a.m., when another train arrived and took them back to the stations where they began their journeys, Taylor said.

The derailment halted passenger and freight service in both directions south of Washington on a heavily traveled line that is owned by CSX and carries 32 VRE and Amtrak trains a day. VRE plans full service on the Fredericksburg line this morning but said that trains would be slow and that delays could last up to 40 minutes.

Amtrak was forced to cancel or stop 14 trains. Limited Amtrak service returned about 7:30 p.m. with a train from New York to Miami.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 afternoon VRE riders on the Fredericksburg line were bused to their home stations after taking a train from the District to the Metro stop in Springfield, Lemieux said.

Sarah Clark was one of them. "It's annoying, but people who commute just have to deal with it," Clark said. "It's been smooth for what VRE had to do."

CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said company officials "plan to have service restored sometime overnight." VRE said service on the Manassas line was not affected.

Only one track crosses the lengthy Quantico Creek bridge, and the train was trying to move onto the northbound track just beyond it when the derailment occurred, said Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident.

Hersman said the train caught parts of both the northbound and southbound rails at the switch point, mangling both sets. There was no immediate indication that the switch was in the wrong position or was damaged before the accident, and the board is investigating all possibilities, Hersman said.

Derailments occur most often around switches because of gaps in rails that aren't present along the uninterrupted steel of the rest of the line. A switch is also a vulnerable point because a train changes direction and momentum as it crosses.

Hersman said CSX reported that the track was last inspected Monday. She said she was trying to confirm that and added that regulations require that this type of track "be inspected several times a week."

VRE rider Scott W. Fischer, who was in one of the cars that stayed on the tracks, said he was able to see the switch after getting off, and "the rail looked split. It looked like it was in two pieces."

Fischer, a 10-year rider who lives in Fredericksburg, said, "Normally we jerk a little bit as we cross over the switch. We crossed over and started lurching, going forward and pushing back a little bit. We did that three or four times and came to a dead stop."

Hersman said the train's automatic brakes kicked in and the engineer said he applied the emergency brake. She said the train was going about 45 mph, as required, when it derailed.

Rider Amanda Martin said she heard an unusually loud noise. "And then all of a sudden, the car started swaying back and forth. It felt like it was about to tip over," said Martin, who was with her father, Andy. "I started to scream and I grabbed onto [my dad]. Then it just stopped . . . and I said, 'What . . . was that?"

The Martins said the train remained remarkably stable, as did passengers. "I called my mom and said, 'The train derailed. You're probably going to see this on the news. But we're fine,' " Amanda Martin said.

But later, she realized, she wasn't. Her back hurt, and the pain wasn't relieved by rest and an analgesic, so she, too, went to Potomac Hospital.