Metro Train Derails, Causing Major Delays

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Metro Derails Near Courthouse Station

At approximately 2:45 p.m., the front wheels on the third car of an Orange Line train went off the tracks to the left, between the Rosslyn and Courthouse stations. No injuries were reported but passengers were on the train for close to two hours.

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Jack Lambert, 29, was heading from Foggy Bottom to Clarendon. "It was obnoxious, but there are worse situations you can be in," he said. The derailed train lost its air conditioning for a period of time, but although the heat on the train was uncomfortable, it was "almost the same as it is outside."

Sarah Fitzgerald, a retired education technology consultant, said there was "no great thwump or crash sensation" when the derailment occurred. She was in a car toward the back of the train.

"We seemed to be going pretty fast, and then we heard a screeching noise, brakes being applied or whatever, and then sort of a very acrid smell, but there was never smoke in our compartment," she said. "We just came to a stop."

Eventually, the train operator and other personnel walked through the train to explain that it had derailed and that a rescue train would take them off, she said. Rescue crews gave riders bottled water provided by the Red Cross.

Officials said they did not believe heat was a factor in the incident. The tracks between Rosslyn and Court House are underground, so they are less likely to be affected by outside temperatures.

But just outside the Rosslyn station is a switch that separates the Orange Line and Blue Line trains, a piece of equipment that could cause rail cars to vibrate if the switch were far enough out of position, according to a Metro source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not part of the official investigation.

Asked whether the wheels that derailed had rough patches, Catoe said he did not know and said he did not want to speculate about possible causes until the investigation is completed.

In the Mount Vernon Square incident, federal investigators said Metro's failure to keep up with basic maintenance and refusal to take safety steps recommended for years by internal and external reviews were the likely causes of the derailment.

In that incident, investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board found that shoddy maintenance had left rough surfaces on rail car wheels that made them more likely to jump the tracks.

Track walkers were inspecting the track yesterday to look for cracks and other possible damage to rail and other track-bed equipment.

The train that derailed yesterday was made up of 2000-Series and 3000-Series rail cars, all manufactured by Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie. The Breda cars make up about a third of Metro's fleet. All are being overhauled, a process that is more than two-thirds complete.

Staff writer Mark Berman contributed to this report.