June 2009 Washington Metro train collision
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During the afternoon rush hour of June 22, 2009, a subway
train wreck A train wreck, train collision, train accident or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an acci ...
occurred between two southbound Red Line Washington Metro trains in Northeast, Washington, D.C., United States. A moving train collided with a train stopped ahead of it; the train operator along with eight passengers died, and 80 people were injured, making it the deadliest crash in the history of the Washington Metro. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found that after a June 17 replacement of a
track circuit A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on rail tracks to signallers and control relevant signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters. Principles and operation The basic principle behind t ...
component at what became the crash site, the track circuit had been suffering from
parasitic oscillation Parasitic oscillation is an undesirable electronic oscillation (cyclic variation in output voltage or current) in an electronic or digital device. It is often caused by feedback in an amplifying device. The problem occurs notably in RF, audio, ...
s which left it unable to reliably report when that stretch of track was occupied by a train. The struck train came to a stop because of traffic ahead. Because the entire train was within the faulty circuit, it became invisible to the
Automatic Train Control Automatic train control (ATC) is a general class of train protection systems for railways that involves a speed control mechanism in response to external inputs. For example, a system could effect an emergency brake application if the driver d ...
(ATC) system. The train behind it was therefore commanded to proceed at . The operator of the striking train applied the emergency brake after the stopped train came into full view, but there was not enough time to prevent the collision, which occurred at approximately .


Collision

At approximately 4:57 pm EDT (20:57 UTC) on Monday, June 22, 2009, Washington Metro Train 112, bound from Glenmont to Shady Grove, left the Takoma station. Minutes later at 5:02 pm, Train 112 rear-ended Train 214, which was stopped between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations while waiting for another train to leave the Fort Totten station. Nine people died, including the operator in the lead car of the moving train, Jeanice McMillan, 42, of
Springfield, Virginia Springfield is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 30,484 as of the 2010 census. Homes and businesses in bordering CDPs includ ...
; at least 80 people were injured. The death toll makes the crash the deadliest in Metro history. The NTSB found that Train 214 had come to a stop entirely within the faulty circuit B2-304, making it effectively invisible to the automatic train control (ATC) system. Other trains had received speed commands of 0 when traveling through this circuit, but had enough forward momentum to make it to the next circuit and resume detection and receipt of speed commands from the ATC system. Train 214 was going slower than normal because it was being driven in manual mode by its operator, and it came to a stop while remaining on circuit B2-304 and was therefore invisible. Train 112 behind it was given full speed () commands by the ATC to proceed on the track. The investigation found that the emergency brakes had been applied by the operator of train 112 when train 214 came into view but it was too late to avert the collision, which occurred with a speed of about . A series of near-collisions in 2005 in similar circumstances in the tunnel between
Foggy Bottom Foggy Bottom is one of the oldest late 18th- and 19th-century neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., located west of the White House and downtown Washington, in the Northwest quadrant. It is bounded roughly by 17th Street NW to the east, Rock C ...
and Rosslyn stations led to a new test procedure which would have identified the faulty circuit after installation. However, by 2009, Metro engineers were unaware of this incident or the tests developed to detect the failure condition.


Rolling stock involved

Train 112 (the moving train) was made up of cars 1079, 1078, 1071, 1070, 1130 and 1131—all from the 1000-series. Train 214 (the stationary train) was made up of cars 3036, 3037, 3257, 3256, 5067 and 5066, from the Breda 3000-series and the CAF 5000-series. The cars are equipped with on-board systems called Automatic Train Operation and
Automatic Train Control Automatic train control (ATC) is a general class of train protection systems for railways that involves a speed control mechanism in response to external inputs. For example, a system could effect an emergency brake application if the driver d ...
, which allow autonomous operation with little human intervention. After the collision,
WMATA The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...
announced a policy of no longer placing the 1000-series at the end of trainsets to prevent telescoping in a collision, as they were the weakest cars structurally. All 1000-series cars were then put in the middle of trainsets and served for another eight years until their retirement in June 2017. Cars 5066 and 5067 were never repaired and were used for spare parts until all the 5000-series railcars were retired in 2018. 1078 was also retired following the collision.


Response

At 5:20 pm, rescuers first entered car 1079, the lead car of train 112. This car had telescoped over the rear car of the stationary train, trapping many passengers who required rescue by emergency workers using ladders for access. Survivors described the crash as "like... hit
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a concrete wall," with air clouded by smoke and debris, and panic among passengers when car doors did not immediately open.Metro crash 'like we hit a concrete wall,' passenger says
''CNN.'' June 23, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
Dennis Oglesby and Martin Griffith, two
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
soldiers who were in the lead train and were uninjured in the collision, helped passengers evacuate from their train, most of whom appeared to have minor injuries. Oglesby and Griffith then noticed that six to eight people from the other train had been ejected by the force of the collision and were more seriously injured. One person from the overtaking train had been thrown onto the roof of the stationary train and had suffered a severe head wound. The soldiers gave first aid to the more seriously injured victims until help arrived, and informed responding emergency personnel that the rails were still powered and needed to be shut down. Immediately following the collision, firefighters and
paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...
s from
District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (also known as DC FEMS, FEMS, DCFD, DC Fire, or Fire & EMS), established July 1, 1804, provides fire protection and emergency medical service for the District of Columbia, in ...
were dispatched to the Takoma Metro station, and arrived at the location of the collision soon after. D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin stated that the initial 9-1-1 emergency calls made the incident seem small, but after firefighters arrived on scene, they dispatched
mass casualty incident A mass casualty incident (often shortened to MCI) describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties. For example, an incident where a ...
teams. Within two hours, more than 200 firefighters were on-scene in response to the three-alarm incident."D.C. Fire Chief: Firefighters Expected a 'Small Incident'."
''The Washington Post.'' June 23, 2009.
Rescuers worked through the night of June 22, using cranes and heavy rescue equipment to free trapped passengers and search for bodies. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin initially confirmed four fatalities (including the train operator) and 74 injuries, 14 of which were considered moderate and 6
critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine *Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing in ...
."4 Dead After Metro Trains Collide in Washington D.C."
''Fox News.'' June 22, 2009.
Five of the dead were discovered in the wreckage and removed from the site of the collision on the morning of June 23, as cranes dismantling the wrecked trains revealed the bodies. Nine fatalities were eventually confirmed. Major General (ret.) David F. Wherley Jr. of the
District of Columbia Air National Guard The District of Columbia Air National Guard (DC ANG) is the aerial militia and Air Force reserve organization of the District of Columbia, United States of America. It is, along with the District of Columbia Army National Guard, an element of the ...
– known for deploying
fighter jet Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
s to defend Washington, D.C. during the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
– died in the collision along with his wife, Ann; the other passengers who died in the crash were Lavonda King, Veronica DuBose, Cameron Williams, Dennis Hawkins, Mary Doolittle, and Ana Fernandez. According to
Daniel Kaniewski Daniel J. Kaniewski is an American government official who served as the acting deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He also served as the deputy administrator of FEMA for resilience. Career Earlier in his career, K ...
, a former George W. Bush administration Homeland Security official now with the Homeland Security Policy Institute at
George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...
, the overall emergency response was "calm and ordered," indicating that U.S. emergency response "during extraordinary incidents assignificantly improved" since the September 11 attacks.


Service disruption

Immediately following the incident, Red Line services were suspended between the Fort Totten and Takoma stations, and
New Hampshire Avenue New Hampshire Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., beginning at the Kennedy Center and extending northeast for about 5 miles (8 km) and then continuing into Maryland where it is designated Maryland Route 650. New Hampshire Avenu ...
was closed. Service between the Silver Spring and Rhode Island Ave–Brentwood stations was suspended pending the completion of the initial investigation and the clearing of debris. This section was expected to remain shut down at least through June 23. Service was temporarily increased on the 79 and S9 in response to the accident. Washington Mayor
Adrian Fenty Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the sixth mayor of the District of Columbia. He served one term, from 2007 to 2011, losing his bid for reelection at the primary level to Democrat Vincent C. Gra ...
said that transportation "all along the East Coast will be significantly impacted," as
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
and
MARC Train MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) is a commuter rail system in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned b ...
s run on tracks adjacent to the crash site. Bus services were deployed to route Metrorail passengers around the closed track, but area
commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...
was severely affected. The federal government urged its employees in the
Washington Metropolitan Area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...
to remote work on June 23 if possible. The Red Line was projected to be very crowded after resumption of service and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) advised people to take alternate bus routes. The replacement bus shuttle between the affected stations was expected to be subjected to long delays. Services were restored in both directions on Saturday, June 27, but with a reduced maximum speed of on the entire Red Line, and slower speeds in the area of the collision.


Aftermath


Initial inquiry

Shortly after the incident, WMATA General Manager John Catoe stated that the cause was not known but that "the system is safe."D.C. Metro Trains Collide, Killing Four
''The Wall Street Journal''. June 22, 2009
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began an investigation. WMATA and NTSB investigators considered several possible causes, which might include operator error, brake failure, fault in the computerized signal and operation system, or a combination of the three. During rush hour operation, train movement is typically controlled by a centralized computer system, and a separate decentralized system can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. These systems had failed at least once in the past, and the NTSB subsequently identified incompatible specifications, from the maximum deceleration capability of the trains to the deceleration rates used in the wayside system design. The train has a manual emergency brake, which can be applied by the driver in the event of an imminent collision, if the driver can see and identify the hazard with sufficient time to stop. Officials indicated that the manual brake was indeed engaged. It is possible that the brake system failed to perform as designed, or that the operator applied the brake too late.Layton, Lindsey. "Experts Suspect Failure Of Signal System, Operator Error."
''The Washington Post.'' June 23, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
The lead car of the moving train was two months overdue for scheduled brake maintenance. In a press conference the evening of June 22, Catoe stated that the last car on the stopped train was a CAF 5000-Series car (car 5066), which entered service in 2001, and that the lead car on the moving train was a
Rohr Industries Rohr, Inc. is an aerospace manufacturing company based in Chula Vista, California, south of San Diego. It is a wholly owned unit of the Collins Aerospace division of Raytheon Technologies; it was founded in 1940 by Frederick H. Rohr as Rohr Air ...
1000-Series car. WMATA later confirmed that all of the cars on the moving train were 1000-Series. The 1000-Series entered service in 1976 when the Metro system opened, and were refurbished and had their motors converted from DC to AC propulsion by
Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
in the mid-1990s. In 2006, the NTSB cited the 1000-Series cars as "vulnerable to catastrophic telescoping damage and complete loss of occupant survival space in a longitudinal end-structure collision". It recommended refurbishment of the entire series after a 2004 collision at the
Woodley Park Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, DC. It is bounded on the north by Woodley Road and Klingle Road, on the east by the National Zoo and Rock Creek Park, on the south by Calvert Street, on the southwest by Cleveland Avenue, a ...
station in which a 1000-Series Rohr car telescoped into another train. In this case, NTSB's Hersman confirmed that, "the first car f the striking trainoverrode the rear car
f the struck train F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. His ...
and much of the survivable space on that first car of the striking train was compromised". The NTSB called for the accelerated retirement of the 1000-Series cars, or urged that they be "retrofitted with
crashworthiness Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of aircraft and vehicles. Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different crit ...
collision protection that is comparable to 6000-Series car railcars." Additionally, the 1000-Series cars lack data recorders that could be used in determining the cause of a crash. During the press conference, Catoe stated that he had "no basis to suspend the use of 1000-Series cars at this time",DeBonis, Mike. "Old Questions About Crashworthiness of Metro Cars."
''
Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focu ...
.'' June 22, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
but WMATA later announced a decision to stop using the 1000-Series cars as the lead or trailing units of any trains. On June 24, WMATA issued a press release stating that the agency is "not likely to know the cause for several weeks or months as the investigation unfolds." Twenty-four hours after the incident, the NTSB confirmed that evidence indicated that the emergency brake had been engaged by the operator. Additionally, the striking train was in automatic mode and so the on-board software should have stopped the train. On June 25, NTSB tests of the long
track circuit A track circuit is an electrical device used to prove the absence of a train on rail tracks to signallers and control relevant signals. An alternative to track circuits are axle counters. Principles and operation The basic principle behind t ...
below the stopped train showed that it did not work correctly, failing to detect the presence of a test train that investigators had placed on it. Hersman said, "These circuits are vital. It's a signal system. It's providing information, authorization and speed commands to the following train," but stopped short of blaming them in this case. WMATA had replaced all 20,000 track circuit relays system-wide in 1999, after a component designed to last 70 years began failing after only 25 years in service, but the agency claims that none of the newer relays had failed prior to this event. WMATA ordered the inspection of all track circuits on its of track after the NTSB test. On July 23, the NTSB announced that the track circuit at the accident site had been malfunctioning since 2007, 18 months prior to the collision, and WMATA has since found six other circuits within the system that have been behaving unusually. WMATA disabled each circuit that could not be immediately fixed and created an online circuit tracking system, similar to its elevator outage tracker.


NTSB report

The
NTSB The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...
report on the accident was released on July 27, 2010, and blamed a faulty track circuit, part of the automatic train control system, for causing the crash. WMATA made a press release detailing changes on July 26 in anticipation of the release of the report.


Memorials

A plaque is located in Fort Totten's mezzanine that commemorates the victims of the crash. On June 22, 2015, the sixth anniversary of the accident, the Legacy Memorial Park in honor of the victims was opened; ground was broken exactly one year previously by
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
Vincent C. Gray. The park features a memorial wall and nine inscribed sculptures, one in honor of each person who died in the crash. The sculptures were created by sculptor Barbara Liotta, and the memorial was designed by the firm of Hunt Laudi; the design is titled ''A Sacred Grove''. Representatives of victims' families and city government officials attended the dedication, but Metro officials did not. The park is located at the entrance to Blair Memorial Gardens, which is close to the site of the collision. The same week as the memorial dedication, the National Transportation Safety Board held hearings related to another fatal incident in the Metro system that happened earlier in 2015; the juxtaposition of the two events was noted by some commentators. On the third anniversary of the crash, NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman and Mayor Gray attended the unveiling of a plaque on the Charles A. Langley Bridge. The bridge crosses the rail tracks at the site of the accident, and a makeshift memorial had been maintained there by victims' families. Another memorial plaque was installed by Metro officials at Fort Totten station.


See also

* Incidents on the Washington Metro *
November 29, 2009 Washington Metro train collision There have been numerous incidents on the Washington Metro over its history, including several collisions causing injuries and fatalities, and numerous derailments. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has been criticized f ...
*
Wrong-side failure A wrong-side failure describes a failure condition in a piece of railway signalling equipment that results in an unsafe state. A typical example would be a signal showing a 'proceed' aspect (e.g. green) when it should be showing a 'stop' or 'dang ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Photographs from ''BBC News''

LunchTalk chat with Metro Ceneral Manager John Catoe, July 2, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Metro Subway Crash, June 22, 2009 2009 disasters in the United States 2009 in Washington, D.C. Accidental deaths in Washington, D.C. Accidents and incidents involving Washington Metro Railway accidents in 2009 Railway accidents and incidents in Washington, D.C. June 2009 events in the United States Northeast (Washington, D.C.) Red Line (Washington Metro)