Metro再出包~ - 華盛頓

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The beleaguered Metro system is dealing with another train derailment in the
District, but this time only "very minor" injuries have been reported.

And this time, it appears the system's safety features did what they were
supposed to do.

A six-car Red Line Metro train derailed Friday morning at the Farragut North
station. Metro said the train was headed in the direction of Shady Grove with
345 people on board when the front wheels of the lead car came off the tracks
at 10:13 a.m.

Sources told NBC4 that the track system sensed a red light ahead, so it
automatically derailed the train. The train was moving slowly at the time it
derailed.

"The derailer system did what it was supposed to do, preventing an incident,"
one source said.

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the train was on a "pocket track,"
which is a side track that allows Metro to maneuver trains.

Sources still do not know why the train went into the pocket track. When the
system opened in 1976, the Red Line only went from Farragut North to Rhode
Island Avenue, and the trains would switch tracks in the pocket track area.
Sources said other areas where Metro has pocket tracks include West Falls
Church, National Airport and Silver Spring.

Passengers who were on the train said they didn't know it had derailed until
an announcement was made.

"It didn't feel much like anything," said one passenger, who is 39 weeks
pregnant. "It was an abrupt stop. We didn't know it derailed until they told
us."

Passengers said they were held on the train for about 1.5 hours. One
passenger said they left the the front of the train that derailed on the
tracks, then backed another train up to the other end of the train and pulled
it back to the station so passengers could get off. The remaining two cars
are expected to be removed after the rail system closes at midnight.

"It was just kind of a hard halt," one passenger said. "Uneventful overall."

"Initially they said we were going to be leaving the train," the passenger
said, "but then they took the passengers off the first two cars, then coupled
the train and took us back to the station."

Pat Butcher, 52, of Springdale, Md., said she was on her way to work for the
first time this week after the back-to-back snowstorms when the train
derailed in a tunnel. "There was a big jolt forward ... and it stopped."

Butcher, who was in the last car of the train, said passengers remained calm.

D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said the operator of the train that derailed
said there were no injuries, but Rubin later said there were three "very
minor" injuries -- bumps and bruises.

Rubin said several other trains that were on the tracks near there were moved
to safety.

One Metro rider who said she was on the platform when the derailment happened
said she could see that the wheels were off the tracks.

"It wasn't overturned; nothing as bad as it's been, but it came off the track
-- underground," she said.

The Farragut North station reopened at about 12:15 p.m. but was
single-tracking at the station. Trains were restricted to a speed of 25 mph
between Dupont Circle and Farragut North while officials investigated. All
streets in the area reopened by 1 p.m.

The derailment comes as Metro attempts to get its service back to normal
after Wednesday's blizzard. The transit agency had opened all Blue, Yellow
and Green Line stations and had limited service on the Red and Orange Lines
before the derailment. Six of Metro’s 86 stations remained closed Friday
morning as work crews continued to dig out the tracks.

Friday's derailment also comes after a collision last summer killed nine
people when one train slammed into another that was stopped on the tracks, as
well as a series of accidents that have killed Metro workers, including one
that killed two employees last month.

The National Transportation Safety Board has a three-day public hearing
starting Feb. 23 on its investigation into the cause of the June crash. NTSB
spokesman Terry Williams said the agency has begun an investigation into
Friday's derailment. Metro also is investigating.

"We certainly have a safety problem," said Metro Board Chairman Peter
Benjamin. "We have a a financial problem and we have a management problem."

However, Benjamin said the biggest problem with Metro is culture "that is not
sufficiently focused on safety as a way to live and a way to operate." He
said changing that culture will take time.

D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton said in a statement that the
derailment is the "latest indicator that years of delayed and insufficient
maintenance and replacement of obsolete equipment are at the root" of Metro's
accidents, delays and operational problems.

Norton said the system needs more money and she said she will ask the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to hold a hearing on Metro's
"maintenance backlog."

All Metrorail stations are expected to open at their normal time Saturday --
7 a.m. -- but close at midnight instead of 3 a.m. to allow more time for
overnight snow and ice removal.

Stay with NBC4 and NBCWashington.com for more information.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC Washington



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