METRO CRASH KILLS 2, 6, 9, INJURES 55 76: Red line trains smash up and stack up near the Ft. Totten Metro station, and emergency teams have reportedly just finished the “extraction.” Traffic jams, ambulances trying to get in and out, just avoid the whole area. Ugh. [WTOP/DCist]
TRAIN WRECKS 7:04 pm June 22, 2009
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{ 51 comments }
Death toll now up to 4.
I hope the female red line train operator with the breathy baritone wasn’t one of the injured (“This is your Red Line Train….to Whhhhhhheaton.” She brought the sexy back to my commute.
I always tell friends visiting DC re: Metro “Its expensive, but at least its safe…”
Oh gosh – there was a female operator that died. Oh, Jeebus. I am feeling queasy.
No snark. Let’s hope the death toll stops climbing and everyone, Wonketteers or not, recover from their injuries. I’m afraid to turn on my teevee and see how bad it really is.
How awful.
There is a lot to be said for dogsled commuting. Or being severely underemployed and mostly at home. So sorry for the folks.
[re=344835]problemwithcaring[/re]: NO WORRIES, problem— while I haven’t been to your filthy City (excellent train system, mind you) in 8 years, I believe the “Wheaton” train is a different branch.
UNCONFIRMED #Iranelection.
[re=344836]HomoPolitico[/re]: When I lived in Germany (briefly) we went up to the Wuppertal to ride the Schwebebahn, a hanging monorail car-thing that is the main commuter vehiclez for the little town(s) in that area. So unique! and no fatal accidents in 100 jahren! Later, they did a lot of work on it, because after 100 years, a system like that needs some re-fitting and TLC, even in Germany. One weekend they left a work-car or something on the track/rail, and the first commuter car on Monday morning hit it, and it fell in the river and had its first fatal accident ever. So ironic. Horrible.
Location of the crash: http://tinyurl.com/meh32w
What a tragedy. I used the Red Line all the time when I lived in DC. Sad.
Very sad. But like in the old days of Village Voice apartment/obit ads, does that mean there are two vacancies in Ft. Totten we should be bidding on?
This is terrible. And how can it even happen? Aren’t signalling and safety systems robust enough to prevent this? I take the local train from work every day in Dublin; it’s a busy line but I just assume that smashes can’t happen.
Anyway, my sympathies to everyone.
By the way, this story has made the news headlines across the world from Britain to Australia.
Red Line might be closed tomorrow, too, according to the local news. Might want to check on that before your commute.
[re=344865]wheelie[/re]: It appears that one train rear-ended another that was stopped on the tracks waiting for a train ahead of it to clear a station.
I was going to make a Pete Hoekstra joke there, but I’m sad, and the meme isn’t so funny at the moment.
I hope that the friends and family of all the Wonketeers out there are safe. My sympathies to all who have been affected by this tragedy.
I will personally hunt down and damage the first idiot who says/suggests/wonders if this was a terrorist attack. And the second. And the third … I’ll give a holler if I need someone to take over.
[re=344865]wheelie[/re]: I caught a ride home from a co-worker and in a half-hour ride we heard at least six different versions of what happened.
That’s really sad. I haven’t lived in DC in a while, but I remember that commute well. Tragic.
I always thought there was some kind of computerized system for keeping track of where all the trains are. I guess not. I so hope this does not turn out as badly as some reports are suggesting.
x111e7thst: apparently, you’re not the only one:
“National Transportation Safety Board investigators found after that accident that operators were ill-informed about what to do if their train began rolling backward too quickly, and that many were under the impression that all Metro trains had computerized systems that would prevent such accidents.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/getthere/2009/06/commuter_alert_red_line_derail.html#more
[re=344883]twitterpaters[/re]: Holy shit. This is what I thought–that the operators just monitored the electronic systems that ran the trains, kept them from running into each other, etc. Guess that myth is dead now.
When I first saw the news flash on my computer, I thought “bet it’s the Red Line.” Yup. WTF is it about the red line? When I lived or visited DC it was always the line that had a breakdown, accident, or existential crisis that effed up the entire metro some how. I hope the NTSB has more influence with WMATA than it does with the FAA.
So sad. Six people dead. Jesus.
Left a VM for a friend who rides this line — pretty sure her stop is the one right before the accident. Waiting to hear back.
Wonketeers – if your friends call to check on you to see if you are ok – Call them back!!!
and people are always saying the green line is dangerous. seriously my thoughts is with everyone affected by this. Awful.
[re=344880]x111e7thst[/re]: They are computerized… Running Microsoft software apparently.
But they are computerized.
…listening to CNN now… Apparently one of the dead, a female train operator failed to stop.
also according to CNN– there are computers that are supposed to slow the train down when there is something on the track ahead that failed to work.
[re=344883]twitterpaters[/re]: It doesn’t seem like the trains were rolling backwards, which might (but shouldn’t) be something the electronic system could deal with. And it seems that there is an electronic control system in place:
During morning and afternoon rush hours, all trains except longer eight-car trains operate in automatic mode, meaning their movements are controlled by computerized systems and the central Operations Control Center. Both trains in yesterday’s crash were six-car trains.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202508.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009062202480
My condolences to everyone affected by this (it’s up to six dead now, BTW — worst crash in Metro history. I haven’t ridden it in a couple of years, but the Metro makes DC so much more accessible and is always a pleasure to ride — especially on sweltering summer days. I had my first acid trip on the Metro. We walked from my house to the station, and it had started kicking in by the time we boarded the train. Spent the rest of the day on the Mall, wandering around, happy and startled by everything. Good times.
[re=344831]Cherry Garcia[/re]: Terrible.
Now 6.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/22/washington-subway-collision236.html
I heard about it on the radio in my car and was trying to figure out if I know anyone who lives four blocks from the crash site, so I could feel tormented, but I don’t. So I’ll just have to stick with feeling bad and sorry for everyone.
[re=344902]AnnieGetYourFun[/re]: Bah, I was considering a FOUR BLOCKS joke, too, but I didn’t have the heart.
[re=344904]PerhapsSo[/re]: I’m only catching up on all of that now, as I was away, so it’s still new and hilarious to me. Apologies to the rest of you.
[re=344907]AnnieGetYourFun[/re]: The rest of us have been making that joke for FIVE AND A HALF YEARS, ALAN.
[re=344865]wheelie[/re]:
Yes, the news is all over – even I heard about it.
[re=344888]Cherry Garcia[/re]:
Got IMs from the handful of DC-ites I care about – but Bo uses too many emoticons for my taste…
[re=344848]shortsshortsshorts[/re]:
Wheaton IS on the Red Line. It’s one of the four Maryland stations on that eastern arm of the Red Line U shape (Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton, Glenmont).
Once Obama’s socialist utopia kicks in, we will never have to commute again.
gaaa! scary!! be well, DC train goers…
Not to trivialize this awful tragedy, but see last two paragraphs: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55M03M20090623
Most of Metro funding from Congress in the last six years has been spent on ’security‘. To the exclusion of improving safety? Don’t know.
Call me a jerk for raising this issue now. Don’t mind. Heard worse.
There is no new information coming out about this story…now I know what it feels like to be in Iran. Disclaimer: Joke not properly worded. Am saddened about the deaths and selfishly concerned that they are my friends.
If this happened in Chicago, people that weren’t even on the train would be lining up benefits.
Even dead people, just saying.
Still safer than driving.
[re=344898]SayItWithWookies[/re]: true, it does sound like one train hit another one that was stopped. and for reasons unknown to me, that paragraph no longer appears at the link I grabbed it from earlier today.
It is too early to know much of anything about what happened to cause the crash, but looking at indications that it could have been prevented or can be prevented in the future is a way to feel a semblance of control over what is a stunning and horrific accident. I also extend my condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy.
and [re=344939]rocktonsammy[/re]: you are a leotard.
just, waaahhhh
[re=344911]Bearbloke[/re]: Heard back (finally). Everyone ok. Friends have been driving other people home who got stuck when the red line shut down. Ahhh, at its heart, DC is just another Mayberry.
[re=344950]somethinstinks[/re]: Precisely.
[re=344939]rocktonsammy[/re]:
That only happens with a bus crash here, not on the L!
read about it this morning when i woke up here in schweiz…..thankfully my takoma red liner pals are all safe. i have to say though this would be the reason i never ride in the front or back of any train…not that the middle is somehow safer but still…
[re=345011]meemoo[/re]: The middle? Hell, that’s where the meteors hit.
[re=344919]S.Luggo[/re]: Not to trivialize this awful tragedy
Have you actually read this site?
[re=344897]CARCUNTZ!(tm)-R-Us[/re]:
The locomotive version of the ‘pitot tube’ I’m guessing.
[re=345012]SayItWithWookies[/re]: oh noes! i am hosed!
At least the train wreck tag is finally being used in the literal sense
[re=344919]S.Luggo[/re]: Its not a joke issue. With the GOP controlling everything until the last little while, commuter transport has been under supported.
NTSB told them a while back to get rid of the old cars/trains without modern safety equipment. But crashing them isn’t the right way to rid of them.
My sister called me from freakin’ Picayune, Mississippi (as opposed to the OTHER Picayune) to make sure I was still alive since she knew I always rode the Metro. I told her I do ride the Metro, I was entering the Foggy Bottom station as we spoke, and about to board the Orange Line, which was about as safe as any other activity in this sorry world.
In addition to news about the crash, I had just seen the video of Neda dying on the ground in Tehran, so I admit I was a bit pissed off at that point.
I’d like to be beamed up now, Mr. Scott.
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