Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
UPDATE (5:21 p.m.):
It will be another nightmare commute on Metro’s Orange and Silver lines during rush hour Friday night. The East Falls Church station will remain closed until at least the end of the day Saturday as Metro continues to investigate what caused a train to derail at that station Friday morning.
“We’ll re-assess tomorrow and let you know if we go into Sunday at that time,” General Manager Paul Wiedefeld told reporters during a 4 p.m. press conference.
As long as the station remains closed, all Orange and Silver Line trains heading west from D.C. to Virginia will stop at Ballston where riders will transfer to free shuttle busses to West Falls Church or McClean.
They still don’t know what caused the derailment.
“It starts with the human, obviously. It starts there. Looking at ties. Looking at fasteners. Looking at all the switches. All that will be looked at,” Wiedefeld said.
Metro’s Chief Safety Officer Patrick Lavin’s leading the investigation and being assisted by a derailment expert, the Federal Transit Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
As of 4 p.m. a crane was being brought in to take the train cars off the tracks after the on-site investigation wraps up. Wiedefeld said first the cars at the front of the train near the platform will be detached from the two derailed ones and moved off the tracks. From there, a crane can lift the derailed cars off the track, put them on the other track and remove them from there. This entire process will take between two and three hours.
UPDATE:
There will be no service between West Falls Church/McLean and Ballston stations through at least the end of the day tomorrow as the investigation continues into a train derailment at East Falls Church Friday morning.
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) It was a frustrating morning commute on the Orange and Silver lines Friday after a train derailed at East Falls Church. The evening rush hour won’t be any better because the station will remain closed. There will be no Silver Line service between Ballston and McLean, and no Orange Line service between Ballston and West Falls Church through Friday night.
“We’re running the bus bridges, and then, you know, clearly give yourself more time coming home tonight,” Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager Paul Wiedefeld told reporters.
After WMATA’s Chief Safety Officer Patrick Lavin finishes his on-site investigation into what caused the derailment, a crane will remove the train from the tracks. Two cars were badly damaged, and the track will also have to be repaired.
“We’re going through the protocol now. We’re examining every possible factor of this from operator to track condition to just literally everything,” Wiedefeld told reporters.
He said they won’t assume anything until the investigation is complete but added it has nothing to do with Safe Track repairs.
Seventy-five people were evacuated from the train. One person was treated for minor injuries.
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