Posted on 06/22/2009 2:31:06 PM PDT by Pyro7480
CNN producer Vito Maggiolo saying "one train on top of each other."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
How awful!
Have they said what caused it yet?
Not really- though I gather that one train was stopped on red line waiting for a pass stop- the other train came up from behind and slammed the stopped one. The female operator was on the moving train.
The Metro is dangerous as hell. Their equipment is falling apart and track maintenance is terrible. Their employees are largely incompetent affirmative action hires who don’t give a flip about customer service, and they run their trains WAY too fast around corners. The whole system is an accident waiting to happen. Horrible, horrible tragedy that could have been avoided.
Ping - 630 WMAL listenership (Washington, DC)
Sadly, these aren’t even the first fatalities in recent memory on the DC Metro transit system - a couple of years back, there was a string of fatal bus-on-pedestrian accidents. This is the first fatal Metrorail accident I can remember (though I’ve only been in DC for a few years, so I’m not the best source)...
Glad you are okay! I hope no one you know was involved in the accident.
God bless the families of those lost, the wounded, and the responders.
Prayers for those that have died and been injured along with their families.
Are all of our famous DC Freepers okay?
For the record this is the line that you take from Union Station out to Walter Reed.
“...they run their trains WAY too fast around corners.”
We were in DC a few years ago and I can vouch for that observation. I hated riding that thing..although I was impressed with how clean it was.
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/DC-Metro-trains-collide/sm/events/us/062209dcmetrotrains
photos from the scene
I agree. There’s nothing funny about this.
My son-in-law rides the DC Metro on occasion. Fortunately, he drove today.
Prayers for the victims and their families.
Prayers for the families trying to get information about their loved ones. Those pics are horrifying.
I have to agree with Karma Police about the employees. From what I have seen so far, BOTH trains were heading south INTO DC, thus they weren’t as crowded as outbound trains. That line loops into DC and then heads up towards Rockville. The distant between the loops is only about 5 to 10 miles..Most rush hour heading out of DC, either towards Rockville(one side of the loop) or toward Silver Spring(other side of the loop) would be packed. Horrible to have that happen and I’m wondering if all the rain we’ve had lately has undermined the railroad ties to cause the derailment. Sorry if this info is being repeated.
That is the Western and Central Red Line. This is the Eastern side and is more recent.
EMT do not transport dead bodies. That is the coroner's job. So it is good that they are asking for more EMT's that means that they still have people alive to transport.
Sometimes it's better to not say anything at all:
Three people were killed on the Metro on January 13, 1982.
A track worker was killed by a train on November 30, 2006.
Considering Metro is over thirty years old. That so few passengers and workers have been killed is a pretty good record.
Metro has recently had a huge budget deficit (despite raising the price of everything), and has started skimping out on maintenance. Today was a relatively hot day, and my guess is that something on the track popped, causing the wreck. If so, then there will be big time hell to pay.
Hi Kristinn,
Hope that all of your family, friends and the DC Freepers are okay.
Prayers for those involved...
I lived near the 1950 accident and witnessed much of the rescue work. I remember one man, dead, whose face was pressed against the window for hours.
A good friend survived that wreck and another further out on the island.
One shouldn’t risk death using a commuter train or a subway.
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