The Washington Post reports what some of you who’ve been out using Metro today may have already heard: six-car train on the Green Line derailed just before 4 p.m. this afternoon near the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop, injuring 20 people, one of those seriously. The Associated Press has more, describing the 45-minute wait approximately 60 people had before being reached by fire crews and helped out of the tunnel. This from AP:
The accident happened at about 3:45 p.m. near the underground Mount Vernon Square station, which serves two lines beneath the Washington Convention Center, Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato said. There were about 150 people on the train.
At least one person had a serious but not life-threatening injury, Asato said. The other injuries were mostly “bumps and bruises,” and one of those with minor injuries was pregnant.
Part of the six-car train had pulled into the station when the fifth car left the track and hit the tunnel wall, Asato said. All the cars remained upright.
Glass and metal were strewn through the tunnel, and the fifth car had significant damage, said Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. The concrete tunnel wall also appeared to be damaged, but it was unclear how significant the wall damage was or whether the track was damaged.
As of 9:30 p.m. WMATA didn’t have a news report up on their Web site, though a 20-minute service disruption alert and notice that the Mt. Vernon Square station was closed was posted. We’re certainly glad to hear that none of the injuries were life-threatening. According to the Post, it “It appeared that the derailment occurred as the train was passing over a switch that can shift trains from inbound to outbound tracks.” Given the problem, our question for Metro would have to be: If this was a track switch error, did it have anything to do with the recent transition to the Yellow Line extension to Ft. Totten?
At least one member of the D.C. blog community was on board the derailed train. New Republic staffer Brad Plumer, who was not only uninjured but also unaware of the severity of the accident at the time, has a description of his experience up at his blog.
No word yet on when the station will reopen, but Metro has reportedly set up a bus shuttle from the L’Enfant Plaza station in Southwest Washington to the U Street station in Northwest D.C., bypassing Mount Vernon Square and two other stops.
UPDATE: Our own DCist Ryan reports that on Saturday night as he and his wife were leaving Mayor Fenty’s inaugural ball, they had a ten-minute wait in the Mt. Vernon Square station due to a problem with a track switch.
