Photo by outlandkWMATA released a few more details last night on the multiple rail car collision at the West Falls Church Rail Yard early Sunday morning. The damage total begins at a minimum of $9 million, according to the transit agency’s preliminary figures, as at least three of the $3 million cars involved were totaled. In total, 12 cars were damaged, and Metro says it is still assessing the remaining nine cars to determine if repairs are possible.
Here’s how Metro says the crash went down: Train #902, a six-car train, struck the rear of a parked six-car train parked inside the West Falls Church Rail Yard at 4:27 a.m. No customers were on board either of the trains, but three employees, two on the parked train and the driver of train #902, sustained minor, non life-threatening injuries. The two employees on board the parked train had been waiting for train 902 to pull in behind so they could board it and begin to clean it, Metro says.
The driver of #902, whose name has yet to be released, has been a train operator for about a year, and is already on paid administrative leave, per WMATA policy. Notably, the accident took place shortly after the driver’s scheduled 10-plus-hour shift, which was supposed to go from 5:55 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 28) to 4:15 a.m. Sunday (Nov. 29), was meant to have ended.
The Tri-State Oversight Committee and the National Transportation Safety Board have both been notified of the crash.
