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News flash from McClatchy D.C.. Full article and picture here.
Posted on Mon, Jun. 22, 2009
Death toll now 6, may climb, in rear-end crash of D.C. trains
Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: June 22, 2009 09:53:28 PMWASHINGTON — A Washington Metro train slammed into the rear of another during the evening rush hour on Monday, killing at least six people, including the train operator, and injuring at least 64 others in the worst disaster in the 33-year history of Washington’s rapid transit system.
A Metro official confirmed four deaths, and fire department officials said more bodies were still on the train.
"We do know there are more bodies on the train," said spokesman Alan Etter of the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. "We don’t know how many."
The crash left a grotesque scene, with the two rear cars of the lead train thrown into the air, hanging over the lead cars of the train that had slammed into it from behind.
Hundreds of fire and emergency medical personnel rushed to the scene, helping victims and searching the wreckage for hours after the accident.
Witnesses told local television stations that the floor of the lead train’s cars had been ripped away in the impact. As the crash occurred at rush hour, many passengers would’ve been standing.
John Catoe, the general manager of the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, said that the lead train was stopped, "waiting to get the order to (proceed) because of a train stopped at a (station) platform. The next train came up behind it and, for reasons we don’t know, collided with that train."
Catoe said that the dead included the operator of the second train. District of Columbia Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said that of the injured, two were hurt seriously, 12 had moderate injuries and 50 were "pretty much walking wounded."
Washington Mayor Adiran Fenty and Catoe offered condolences to families of those killed. To all of the victims, Catoe said, "Our deep, heartfelt pain is with you."
Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board rushed to the scene to begin an investigation into the accident’s cause. Rubin said that FBI agents also had been dispatched to the scene.
Snip> More info at article.
8 Comments
Sorry, bad link. This should fix it.
Wow, acquarius. How horrible.
6 dead, 64 injured!!!!
Very mysterious…all those electronic signals to ensure this cannot happen, yet it did. Engineer on the rear train that rammed the other was a female who died. They just had to get that bit in.
In the pic, groups of rescue workers (the vests) standing on the railroad tracks…schmaat, huh?
Great job, scout.
~~~~Hey, Boo! Thanks. BTW, Have you had any update on our Thomas Tamm? Last I found the gov was hounding him unmercifully, but no charges filed against him. Same formula they use on the detainees – torment and destroy personal lives but don’t file charges against them. It’s a cowardly, CS way. If not for Mr. Tamm we would know nothing about all that wiretapping program.
scout
The higher volume of passengers during peak hours has led to delays at each station which has in turn led to the practice of just sitting on the tracks often for minutes as a train approaches each station. Sometimes the wait can be quite long. This cascades throughout the system. It ain’t right. There was a policy introduced that required passengers to board or leave a train at each stop within a certain amount of time, but it apparently hasn’t been enforced much, as far as I can tell.
Still, it remains a mystery why the second train didn’t stop in time.
I may have it wrong, but I gathered that the signals would stop a train from proceeding into a section of the track as long as another train was in that section. Is that right? If so, who was at the electronic switchboard?
just musings…
So sad for the victims and their families. The metro has always felt so safe