If you haven't gotten a chance to look at D.C.'s newest tourist spot, be sure to get to the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan metrorail station today before the bulk of the destroyed train cars will probably be carted away this weekend. As has been previously reported, although WMATA has put up a blue tarp to shield commuters from the splintered mess, from the mezzanine, you can see the whole scene of disaster.

Seeing such destruction set against the Utopian-futuristic concrete vaults of the station is an odd sight, and when DCist left the station to catch a 90 bus, we were amazed by the number of people snapping photos or just standing around looking at the mess saying "Jesus Christ" or "How the hell did that train car get on top of the other?" We feel sort of sorry for the WMATA transit police guarding the trains. They seem that they could double as museum security guards with all the tourists mulling about looking past them at the work of accidental transit art down on the tracks. Check out the Post's Woodley park crash photo gallery.

UPDATE: When DCist went through the station this morning, we noticed that a majority of the mess has been cleared. Be aware that some Red Line trains are running express skipping Woodley Park, which is something that WMATA has not communicated. A tip to WMATA personnel at the station: tourists can be easily confused and locals can get crabby. Instead of joking around with your workmates on the platform (like you were this morning), why don't you alert passengers that some trains passing through the station won't be stopping. DCist had to inform people on the platform that some trains would be running express because we got a comment yesterday saying that was indeed the case.

Also, since most people don't know the location of the Maryland terminal stations, Shady Grove and Glenmont, you can't assume that people, espeically in a hotel district like Woodley Park, are going to know that a train going to Glenmont is going through downtown. Single-tracking adds to this confusion.

WMATA continues to run eight-car trains, but reduced service on the Red Line (single-tracking between the Dupont Circle and Van Ness-UDC stations) as the National Transportation Safety Board finishes its investigation and WMATA clears the uptown track of the demolished train cars. The Post reports that the focus of the investigation is now looking at the performance of the operator of the out-of-service train that rolled backwards downhill into the train stopped at the Woodley Park station. Though the primary brakes most likely failed, the back-up emergency brakes may have been deployed too late. From the Post:

Lewis told investigators that when he hit the emergency brake, he felt a big thud. He told them that he thought the train had just come to a halt, but that he stepped outside and saw that his train had crashed into another train.

Eight-car trains? Although we've seen that eight-car trains can run on the metrorail system, we've always been under the impression that it was technically impossible to do so. While stations were built with platforms long enough to accommodate eight-car trains, we always thought that the third-rail electrical conduits couldn't supply enough electricity for eight-car trains. If eight-car trains were to run in the metrorail system, WMATA would have to upgrade electrical substations. And it was only Oct. 7 when WMATA's board approved money for such an upgrade. Apparently, that is not the case since we've seen eight-car trains on the Red Line, but we're probably missing something.

Imagining Horror: We can't imagine the horror of being Calvert Sawyers, the metrorail operator of the train stopped at Woodley Park, when he saw red tail lights growing larger and larger as a runaway train came barreling down the hill from Cleveland Park. He certainly saved the day. If you ever want to get a feeling for what a train operator sees in a tunnel, make sure to get in the first car and take the seat directly behind the train operator door. The glass is tinted, but you get a decent view of what the operator sees in front of the train. We think WMATA will give him an award for saving the day, since in a split second, with the runaway train coming down the tunnel, ran out and told everyone to get out of the first train car as quickly as possible.

This could have been so much worse. A Malbone Street disaster it is not (thankfully, transit did away with wooden train cars many years ago), but imagine what would have happened if the train stopped at Woodley Park had begun to enter the tunnel, not knowing that a runaway train was coming. Out of the 70 people on the train only 20 were injured, and those were only minor. Imagine if this all happened during rush hour.