A Metro train crashed into another that was stopped in a rail yard Wednesday evening, the latest accident for the transit agency in a summer of troubles.
The run-in, which the transit agency called an “unintentional coupling,” occurred about 6 p.m. at the West Falls Church rail yard off the Orange Line when a two-car train drove slowly into the shop and hit a two-car train already stopped there.
The impact jostled the stopped train, which contained two mechanics who were working on train doors, Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato said Thursday. They were checked out at a hospital as a precaution, but neither was injured. The rail car maintenance worker who was driving the train was not injured, nor was another worker on the moving train.
All four involved were tested for drugs and alcohol, which is standard after any incident in the transit agency. Asato said they were placed on administrative leave during the investigation into what caused the crash. She said grease was found on the track, so one train may have slid into the other.
The crash did cause a “couple hundred dollars” in damage to the equipment that joins pairs of trains, Metro said.
Such incidents happen occasionally in the Metro system, Asato said, though she did not have specific numbers. But it was much less serious than the high-profile crash of two Metro trains earlier this summer. On June 22, a train slammed into a stopped train, killing a train operator and eight passengers while injuring dozens of other riders.
The transit agency has had several other high-profile and deadly accidents this summer. On Aug. 25, a contractor was killed when he touched a live wire while working on an air compressor at a Metro bus garage.
The week before that, a Metro track spotter was killed when he was hit by a machine spreading gravel near the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station.
On the same day as the latest crash, Metro posted a job listing for a deputy chief of system safety. Asato said the transit agency was creating the new position as part of an increase of the safety department.
