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Image courtesy FOX 5
UPDATE 5:32 p.m. This is looking bad. We're hearing that there has been a head-on collision between two trains, and there are preliminary reports of multiple injuries. At 4:59 p.m., a Shady Grove-bound Red Line train derailed while approaching Fort Totten station. That train then collided with another train heading in the opposite direction -- it's unclear whether the trains were traveling in opposite directions or the same directions, but they were traveling on the same track. We have heard people may be trapped in one or both of the trains.
Metro is asking people to avoid the Red Line for the remainder of the evening. Trains are operating between Glenmont and Brookland and between Shady Grove and Brookland stations for the remainder of the day.
5:44 p.m. WJLA is reporting that at least one person has died in the crash, along with at least nine people injured. They also say that one train is actually on top of the other one. We've heard one train car appears to have been almost completely crushed.
5:57 p.m. The rescue effort is also affecting the Green Line, as those trains run through the Ft. Totten station. Be prepared for Green Line delays this evening as well.
6:02 p.m. NBC4/WRC reports at least 55 people injured, though it's unclear how many of those injuries are serious. New Hampshire Ave. around the accident has been closed. In addition to avoiding the Red Line, drivers should avoid the area of the accident around Ft. Totten due to messy traffic conditions.
Metro General Manager John Catoe is speaking to the press: he says the collision took place at 5:05 p.m. He doesn't know the number of injuries, but at least 60 people have been taken off of the trains by D.C. Fire/EMS. No info on whether the train that derailed was meant to be single-tracking, or the circumstances of how the two trains collided -- he says it doesn't look to him like they were traveling in opposite directions, but can't confirm.
6:04 p.m. Metro is now reporting a second fatality.
6:25 p.m. MARC service has been suspended on the Brunswick line for the time being. Penn and Camden lines are still running but dealing with delays.
6:44 p.m. CNN reports there are still 3 people on the train, unclear if they are alive or dead.
DDOT has sent out a list of road closures in Northeast D.C. in the area around the accident. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and take alternate routes and detours.
>> New Hampshire Avenue north and southbound
>> North Capitol Street north and southbound
>> Eastern Avenue (northwest) east and westbound
>> South Dakota Avenue northbound closed
>> Nicholson Street completely closed
CSX Trains have also been shut down in both directions near the incident.
6:54 p.m. WUSA9 says the last passenger has now been taken off the train, so the rescue effort is officially over. Injury count right now at 42 total people taken to the hospital: 2 critically, 12 with serious injuries, and the rest minor injuries.
7 p.m. Metro now says that one of the two fatalities was a female train operator.
Here's the statement from Catoe:
“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.
Mayor Fenty is about to start a press conference. Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser and Metro board chairman Jim Graham are both on the scene as well.
7:10 p.m. Fenty says that there are "scores" of people who have been injured, and wow, he says there have been 4 confirmed fatalities, making this the deadliest accident in Metro history.
7:13 p.m. Chief Rubin gives some harder injury numbers: Handled a total of 70 patients, 50 are triaged "green" or walking wounded, 12 moderate injuries, 2 critically injured, 4 dead.
7:17 p.m. Catoe offers the first explanation of the crash. "At 5:02 p.m., one train was stopped waiting to get the order to pass, because the train stopped at a platform. The next train came up behind it, and for reasons we do not know, plodded into the back of that train - the operator of that train was the one who lost her life."
This explanation seems to jive with initial reports that a train derailing caused the accident.
NTSB is conducting an investigation. Metro is still searching the trains to make sure no one is left trapped on the trains.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier begs people who are trying to locate family members not to show up at the scene. Instead, call: 202-727-9099
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WJLA says it's "developing into a mass casualty event":
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0609/634125.html
WJLA is reporting two Metro trains collided.
Holy crap I just exited a red line at Fort Totten at about 4:50pm... Glad I wasn't a few minutes later....
Wow, that sounds bad. I hope everything turns out okay for the people in those trains.
On a totally selfish note, anyone have any suggestions for how to get home (Takoma/Silver Spring area) from Dupont Circle tonight? Do I have options other than a taxi?
I saw that they are setting up shuttles in between Takoma and Fort Totten, someone in my office is wondering the exact same thing.
Walk to Gallery Place and take the 80 to Fort Totten and cab from there.
Or, take a circulator to Columbia Heights and then take the 52 or 54 (I think both go right from the corner at Col Heights Metro station to Takoma)
walk to 16th street and get on a bus to silver spring. or go to wmata and plan a trip with bus only option.
Yeah, 16th Street bus is probably the best bet.
You could also take one of the 7th St/Georgia Ave bus lines to Silver Spring too...
I'd say the express bus up 16th St, or take the red line over to Bethesda and take a bus across the county.
Check that. You could walk over to 13th around Logan Circle or 11th at Street and take the 62 or 63 up to Takoma
Seems that some people are trapped inside the cars...they don't know how many people are injured, or the extent of the injuries.
1 person is dead.
Oh man this could be bad Red Line trains are always heavily crowded during this time of day... there could be many deaths if the damage is that extensive... God I can't believe that could have easily been a train I was on by just 5-7 minutes...
metro strikes again, i feel so bad for everyone on board
Why is Metro saying this is a mechanical difficulty on their web site? Ya think??
"Disruption at Fort Totten. Trains are turning back at Rhode Island Ave and Silver Spring stations due to a train experiencing mechanical difficulties outside of Fort Totten station. Shuttle Bus service has been requested."
Yikes. That's some level of PR spin...
Hope it doesn't develop any worse than it currently is. Hope the injuries/fatalities don't get any worse.
Just saw that on the RedLine Twitter feed - hell of a mechanical difficulty.
Their Twitter feed is useless.
Photograph on the WTOP site.
That's some "disruption".
CNN has more info: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/22/washington.subway.crash/index.html
Condolences from NY.
CNN has more info: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/22/washington.subway.crash/index.html
Condolences from NY.
The picture on cnn.com 's main page is something scary. This is crazy.
They're saying two people have died now.
Nope. Second person is still a priority 1 viable patient . He's being bagged right now.
They've also got two priority 2 patients. Too so those are up in the air.
15 to 20 patients between code 2 and 3.
www.dcfirefeed.com
Metro has confirmed a second fatality, or so they are saying.
http://www.wusa9.com/genthumb.ashx?e=3&h=240&w=320&i=/assetpool/images/090622060511_metro-collision.jpg
http://www.wtopnews.com/emedia/wtop/15/1567/156716.jpg?filter=ksl/large_headline
Metro is such an important, shared resource. We're all feeling like it could have been us. Really terribly frightening.
I was on the Red line in the same direction approximately 30 minutes before the accident going from Union Station to Gallery Place and we were single-tracking because of a reported train malfunction at Tenleytown Station. We held at Union Station and Judiary Square for a couple minutes at each station and the conductor definitely announced that we were single-tracking due to this delay, so I imagine that this somehow had something to do with the incident.
At least this collision/crash wasn't underground like the last one. That was a shitshow.
Prayers go out to all those affected directly and good luck to all those trying to get home.
Well at least we don't have a plane on the 14th st bridge, but damn, hope 2 dead is all we have.
Auto accidents where two people die are blurbs in the back of the newspaper. This shit is front page on CNN.com.
Where two people die and 55 are injured? I don't think so.
According to NBC4, at least 100 people injured. :(
As a daily Red Line commuter, all I can say is . . . fuck you.
Seriously...think about it for two seconds. Sure, people die on highways all the time. But this is an incident where hundreds of passengers were in the train cars and none them had any control over the situation whatsoever. That's the difference.
It is easy, what draws the most eyeballs: two cars or two trains....it is not brain science.
You think all the people who die in auto accidents are in control? Not at all. You can be hit by someone else and you would have no time to react. As long as they aren't drunk and stay at the scene, they will not be punished and there will be very little investigation, even if they were negligent.
Please, share this sentiment with those closest to you, and see how much disgust you get back. That you compare this to an auto accident is ridiculous. Don't take my word for, please express this sentiment around and see what reaction you get.
I have shared this exact sentiment about similar railroad accidents whenever it has come up in conversation.
Because public transporation is incredibly safe and these sorts of accidents are rare. It's unusual to have more than a few dozen people killed on buses/subways/trains in an entire year, whereas over 40,000 die in traffic fatalities in the US in the same time span.
PS- condolences from Los Angeles.
And that's my point. Mass transit is generally safe, but I think when it comes to high profile incidents, people have this perception that mass transit is unsafe. As another poster mentioned, people think they have more "control" in their car.
Once I get over the initial sadness over the loss of life, this is the shit I think about.
If you go to http://www.washingtonpost.com RIGHT NOW (6:55 pm), the top headline points to a 2007 story on the Virginia Tech shooting. Classy.
Ah, someone at WaPo noticed.
What the hell? You really rushed here to point that out? It was probably a mistake. Why do people on the Internet have such a hard-on for showing everybody else in the worst light?
Wikipedia is "reporting" that the two trains both de-railed and then collided. I have not seen that mentioned at any news sources, and I am following several of them (ABC, Fox, CNN and WashPost). Can anyone confirm this?
Well, I suppose technically you could say they both derailed after the collision. But the reports I've seen so far say one derailed and then the collision occurred.
May God work. I hope that they died quickly, without pain. And I hope that the injured recover with lightning speed.
But my mine has to wonder about the post-debate, and whether this little nugget (Inauguration) will come up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012901312.html
Holy grasping at straws, Batman!
Congratulations on being the first to discover that the accident was actually Obama's fault. Your commendation from Rush Limbaugh will be arriving in the mail.
Are you seriously trying to politicize this? What the fuck is wrong with you and what do you do with the space in your body where your soul should be?
Isn't there traditionally a 24 hour moratorium on exploiting human tragedy for political attacks when said tragedy involves multiple fatalaties? Excluding the middle east or Washington Post comment threads, of course.
Wow, you're an epic asshole.
+1 on the asshole
I was going to take the red line from Union Station to Fort Totten (where I usually transfer to the green line) to get home tonight, around 5:00. I was really pissed off that it was so crowded, and that there were delays. I ended up taking the red line to Gallery Place and transferring there. I was also pissed off that it took so long, and that I could have walked to Gallery Place, but I didn't want to leave Union Station and pay twice.
I didn't realize what was causing the delays until tonight. Now I feel like a selfish asshole for being so pissed off.
It is unfortunate that Metro was reporting this to customers already in the system as a "train experiencing mechanical difficulties" ... they should have been reporting what this was AS SOON AS THEY KNEW... which was within 15 minutes. Metro is notorious for not reporting train problems accurately, and that needs to change!
I think they announced (several times) something like "two accidents (or maybe incidents) are causing major delays."
This sounds a lot like some of the recent crashes in Boston, where manually-operated Green Line streetcars plowed into trains that had stopped in front of them. Text-messaging train operators were implicated in both of those crashes, which has caused a moral panic 'cross the Northeast about transit-operator cell phone usage.
While I know nothing about trains, I do know that the Metrorail control system is much more sophisticated -- this seems like the kind of thing that shouldn't be allowed to happen. As a one-time Orange Line commuter, I'm saddened and shocked; I will be really curious to see what the investigation will find.
Metro trains are run by a centrally-controlled computer system which is supposed to prevent any train from entering a segment of track between two stations that is already occupied by a train. Something must have happened to cause the system to not recognize the first train and mistakenly allowing a second to proceed. Contrary to popular misconception, operators have little to NO control over their trains--they essentially open and close the doors and make station announcements. Accidents in the past occurred because the operator was denied access to the train's manual breaking system when they needed it. It is likely the poor woman operating that second train watched her death approaching and was mortified by the fact that she had no way of stopping it... I hope we find out just how the system failed so badly... This should not be able to happen...
Operators have the ability to manually operate the cars if necessary. And in fact trains have been operated manually several times in the recent past, due to track work or such things.
Sorry, didn't read your entire comment before replying. I'm just repeating some of what you said.
Contrary to popular misconception, operators have little to NO control over their trains--they essentially open and close the doors and make station announcements
@mlswanso3470: Are you sure about this? I've sat in the very front car right behind the conductor's tinted "cockpit", if you will, on the Glenmont-bound red line train. From what I was able to observe, the operator starts and stops the train using a throttle-like lever -- the further forward you move it, the faster the train goes. Once a train arrives at a station and stops to allow for (dis)embarking, the operator turns the knob to engage the "parking brake". The conductor then gets out of his chair, sticks his/her head out the window to observe with his/her own eyes the (dis)embarking. When he/she sees that it's done, he or she returns to their seat, signals for the door closing warning, turns the knob to disengage the brake and push the lever forward to move the train forward.
Given this, the operator's lever may have been stuck or the brakes malfunctioned. But, I really don't believe this system is as automated by computers as you claim. The operator receives audible (and I would suspect, visual) alerts over the radio from the control center as to when to proceed forward or not.
I think that may be how they operate if they operate in manual mode. But I've seen trains come into the station and stop with the operator hanging his head out the window the whole time, and clearly had no ability to be operating the consoles from that position.
I read about the automatic control system in the book titled "The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro" by Zachary M. Schrag. He described how the system was built with the potential to be FULLY AUTOMATED and in fact in the beginning many of the system's designers did not want conductors on the trains at all. Once it was finally decided to have conductors, there's a quote of one Metro designer saying something to the effect of "let them have colorful uniforms and caps but for God's sake don't let them have control [of the trains]." You should look up the book if you want to know more, I don't have the page numbers handy. You can buy it at local chain book stores, it's a fascinating read.
(Not intended to detract from the horrendous nature of today's accident mind you)
Also, you may be thinking of systems like San Francisco's BART, where their trains stop at the same exact spot on the platform every time. Yellow "boarding" squares on the platform assist passengers in determining on where the door will be when the train arrives because the train always stops in that spot.
But, WMATA trains are conducted manually the majority, if not all the time. I observed the manual operation of the train from Dupont Circle all the way to Silver Spring.
What you are observing with the throttle is a train in manual mode. All 8 car trains operate in manual mode, while most 6 cars operate in automatic. Trains will go into manual when there's single tracking or other problems, but 6 car trains are in automatic a majority of the time.
The door operation used to be totally automatic as well, but this is fully manual on all trains though.
Thanks for the additional insight! That's very interesting why it's different for 6 and 8 car trains.
Also, even in manual mode there are automatic warning systems in place. There are loud beeps whenever the train operates over the posted speed from central control, and when a train gets too close to another train.
Hold up....so when the train conductor comes on to announce the next stop or whatever else, and I hear "beep-beep-beep" in the background--is that the loud beep you're talking about that signals they're over the speed limit for that area?
Correct
...and the door operation actually is located in the little console door immediately to the right of the windows on either side of the train's conductor "cockpit"... they press one button to open, another to give the closing warning, and then a third to actually close the doors. There are two white buttons and a green one (in the modern cars anyway).
The way I understand it, the trains can be run without anybody onboard. I feel pretty sure that we'll find this will have been either a catastrophic computer control failure, or an instance where manual control was issued incorrectly. There is no reason a train should have entered the zone between two stations when another train was present in that sector. I've never seen this before, usually you'll see trains downtown in the tunnel ahead just as the train is leaving the station you're at. You'll notice that those headlights in the tunnel ahead will not move toward your station platform until the train departing has reached a certain point in the tunnel. So something had to have gone horribly wrong to release a train into an already occupied zone....
I can't imagine how scary that must have been... I'm scared just having been so close to it myself, but to have been on those trains and been thrown over the seats or even out the windows... horrible! I'm going to be a nervous wreck getting on one tomorrow, even though I know that logically my chances of being in an accident are slim....
Nearly all transit systems have rigorous, serious policies that absolutely prohibit the use of cell phones or other communications devices by operators. If that policy is being ignored to the extent that MULTIPLE accidents are caused, I think it's a little bit dismissive of you to call concern about the issue "moral panic" as if it's contrived somehow.
Yes and no -- while I agree that train operators shouldn't be texting while operating trains, much of the ensuing coverage has just been enabling the MBTA Ad-Hoc Vigilante Squad while trending towards hysteria about how kids these days just have their heads in the cloud and that Tweeter thing is just going to up and kill us all.
Not that "News media gratuitously sensationalize story -- details at 11!" is a new complaint, but, y'know.
Well, that IS how the metrolink train in Los Angeles derailed, killing over 40 people. The conductor was texting. Amtrak/metrolink isn't automated at all, though, whereas the LA subway system is fully, electrically automated.
First hand account:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/getthere/2009/06/a_crashing_jolt.html
Simply amazing that anyone in the first car survived...
Death count on scene has been bumped up to six people.
This explanation seems to jive with initial reports that a train derailing caused the accident.
a) The expression is actually "to jibe with" not "to jive with." It's originally a sailing term.
b) It means the opposite of how you have used it here. The explanation from Catoe completely contradicts the original stories about the first train derailing, it doesn't agree with them. One train was parked, waiting, on the tracks. The other train slammed into it from behind at high speed. There is no indication that either train was derailed before the collision.
By all means, let's be picky about grammar and phrasing right now. Especially with people who are working well past their normal work day.
"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."
The same thing happened five years ago. We just were lucky enough to have it happen during lunch hour instead of rush hour.
And they said that they would ensure that it never happened again.
There is a risk inherent in living on this planet and partaking in a society. One of those risks is that you'll die while using some mode of transportation, all of which are not failsafe.
No transit agency can claim, "This will never happen again." And if they do, you can't believe them. Human beings are fallible and no matter who is at the helm, an accident will happen. If you were in charge, an accident will happen. If I were in charge, an accident will happen.
The saving grace is that trains, planes and buses are many times safer than driving a personal automobile. The risk of injury or death is much lower.
To leave your home every day is a roll of the dice.
Now I am wondering if the train operator who died is the same one I hear so many days on the red line announcing stations and telling me which side the doors open on.
Oh -- now it's a police situation (from WMATA.com):
"Disruption at Fort Totten. Trains are turning back at Brookland-CUA & Silver Spring due to a police situation outside of Fort Totten station. Shuttle bus service has been established."
Again, Metro. It walks like a duck, talks like a duck, so call it a train accident or collision or even incident -- something grounded in reality.
Pretty please?
hm... interesting to withhold details that might actually mean something... and yet whenever I ride the metro (rare these days), it seems they go into bizarre detail to describe delays caused by a sick passenger, etc...
Yes, very troubling that Metro doesn't have a policy of making concise yet accurate disclosures to its passengers during emergencies.
"Authorities" always assume that people will panic if you give them the straight scoop in an emergency; in fact, people who have studied crowd behavior in actual emergencies report no such thing.
We Americans are particularly bad in this respect: when flying foreign-flag airlines, it's an eye-opener to see how their safety briefings are more realistic (they actually demonstrate the "brace" position), less euphemism-filled (no pussy-footing around with the old "unlikely event of a change in pressure" phrase), and just all-around more useful.
I hope WMATA will revise its emergency procedures to include more timely and honest disclosures, so that people in the system can make smart, informed decisions when unusual, life-threatening situations arise. Because, sad as it is to say, it's unlikely that this will be the last or worst tragedy to befall our city.
From MARC:
It was surreal to watch the coverage, knowing that is a route I have taken many times. I hope they are able to quickly analyze what happened to prevent this kind of accident again.
Holy shit. I've just woken up in Amsterdam and checked the news and I see this. I am now seeing that 9 people are dead, so my thoughts go out to the victims and their families.
I generally ride the REd Line to/from work every day. Lousy public transportation system = just another reason not to come back to D.C.
Iceman,
Then don't come back. I get so sick and tired of whining babies like yourself who criticize and complain about everything but never do anything positive to try to improve things. Do everyone a favor and stay and rot away in Amsterdam.
Seriously, don't come back. The WORST thing about DC is the high number of transients like you who only complain. Find a fault, imagine it's both unique to DC and very widespread, complain. Our public transit is a lot better than what a lot of places have. Not all, but most. Consider that we even HAVE a metro.
iceman: You take a gamble no matter which form of transportation you use or where you use it. I rode Metro today from Fort Totten bright and early as I always do because I have no choice. THis accident is horrible but I must keep working and so must countless others in DC. Metro has an amazing safety record among US transit systems, and even internationally... it is by far the safest system and this will be a tragic lesson-learning encounter for WMATA.
WestEnder: I am with you on the alerts and emergency notices beef. I am furious that even today Metro is still calling it "a situation at Fort Totten station" meanwhile every single rider has the Express in their hands with "CATASTROPHE" as the headline and pictures of the mangled trains all over the cover... Come on Metro we're not stupid children, we deserve some truth. If for no other reason than to keep the people in the system from feeling like horrible bastards when they immerge later to find out that while they were cursing Metro for "delays" people were dying on the ground... that's not fair to the hundreds of people who may have been trying to get home and had no clue what was going on! Metro needs to cut the sugar and say it straight out when something goes wrong.