An orange barrel media moment.............that didn't make the news as much........i lived in Dale City, VA at this time.........i don't remember hearing about any metro accident..................which occurred a half hour later................




A rapid rail transit accident occurred about one half hour after the air crash. At 4:30 PM, one car of a WMATA Metrorail train derailed while the train was being backed up through a crossover switch south of the Federal Triangle Station in D.C., and the car was pulled sideways and it crashed into the concrete pillar separating the inbound and outbound subway tunnels. A misaligned switch at Smithsonian Interlocking caused the rear wheel truck to derail, and the wheels tracked alongside of the rails for 171 feet, following the opposite track, until the car impacted the concrete pillar. There were 3 fatalities, and 25 injuries. Investigations identified human operational error as the primary cause.
This occurred on the Blue/Orange Line, and resulted in the both lines being shut down. At that time, the Blue Line ran from National Airport Station in Arlington to Addison Road Station in Maryland, and the Orange Line ran from Ballston Station in Arlington to New Carrolton Station in Maryland. The derailment occurred on the section where the two lines share the same cross-town subway route, and the wrecked subway car blocked both tracks. The other (then) open line, the Red Line, was not affected.