The Morning News: Green Line Train Derails

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Photo of a passenger being treated for injuries following yesterday's Green Line derailment by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post

AN ORDINARY GREEN LINE trip took a frightening turn Sunday afternoon after at least one rail car jumped the tracks approaching the Mount Vernon Square-7th Street-Convention Center station, injuring at least 18 passengers. As The Post's Martin Weil and Allison Klein report, preliminary accounts indicate that at least one of the 5000-series train cars hit the side of the tunnel wall, spraying glass and debris into the car as the train proceeded through a crossover switch adjacent to the station during scheduled track maintenance that forced trains to share the same track downtown. The train has been removed and the station reopened this morning.

The number of injuries is roughly equivalent to a November 2004 collision on the Red Line in which an out-of-service train rolled backwards and telescoped into a train with passengers at the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station. Had an operator not quickly ordered an evacuation before the trains collided, it is thought many could have been killed. The deadliest accident involving passengers happened at the crossover switch on the Orange and Blue lines between Smithsonian and Federal Triangle stations on Jan. 13, 1982 (a half hour after an Air Florida plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge) that killed three and injured 25 people when the train, backing up over a switch, crashed into a concrete pillar separating the pair of tracks.

Although almost all of the injuries in Sunday's derailment were described as minor, the National Transportation Safety Board is sure to be looking closely at Metro, whose safety record was publicly criticized by the NTSB chairman following a Nov. 30 incident near the Eisenhower Avenue station in which an out-of-service Yellow Line train struck two track workers. Both men eventually died from their injuries.

» "Green Line Metro Train Derails; at Least 18 Hurt" [WaPo]
» "Expect Delays on Green, Yellow Lines Downtown" [Free Ride/Express]
» "14th Street Bridge, the Air Florida Crash, and Subway Disaster" [Roads to the Future]
» "Train Hits 2 Metro Workers" [WaPo]

What else is making news on this Monday, Jan. 8, 2007? Let's get to it.

» WILSON BUILDING: "Others Subsidized Williams's Travel
Some Expenses Are Unexplained; City Tab is $20,000" [WaPo]
» GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY: "Jordan Leaves Gallaudet With Painful Goodbye" [WaPo]
» FAIRFAX COUNTY: "George Mason's Neighbors Say Flashy Sign Makes for Sore Eyes" [WaPo]
» BALTIMORE: "Home Town Paves the Way for Pelosi" [WaPo]
» ANNAPOLIS: "Smart Growth May Be Revived" [AP via WT]
» RICHMOND: "Stakes Raised as Roads Issue Returns" [Richmond T-D]
» REGION: "The Week Ahead: Winter to Tease Us and Leave Us" [Capital Weather]

Photo of I. King Jordan taken in 1988 by Lucian Perkins/The Washington Post

COMING UP LATER TODAY on ReadExpress.com ...

» Before Adrian Fenty, who was the last D.C. mayor to attempt to take over the D.C. public schools? Hint: It wasn't Anthony Williams ...
» Could maximizing revenue from weekend riders help Metro's financial crisis?

» MORE NEWS AND VIEWS, as always, are available at washingtonpost.com, Washington Post Radio and Slate.