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Update 12:10 p.m.:
The deer did not survive its time on Metro’s Orange Line tracks, according to agency spokesman Dan Stessel.
“We were all rooting for it this morning,” he said. “It wasn’t meant to be.”
The animal had been running around the tracks for a couple of hours Monday morning, apparently having gotten past the fences that line the tracks. But it can be hard for a deer to gain enough speed to leap back over the fences and return to the wild.
Although trains had been slowed down in the area, the deer was struck around 10:28 a.m., he said. That caused another round of delays as Metro police and crews had to check the train and remove the deer carcass.
Metro riders are used to delays. Brake malfunctions, single tracking, sick customers and track work are all part of the commuter’s lexicon.
But on Monday morning, riders on the Orange Line had a different kind of delay: a deer.
The deer was reportedly running around the track area west of West Falls Church, causing delays outbound to Vienna around 10:45 a.m., according to Metro
Train operators were warned to keep an eye for it, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said. No word yet on what happened to the deer, but trains were soon facing a more typical slowdown: single tracking due to “scheduled maintenance.”
Deer typically cause problems on local roads this time of year, as it is mating season. But they also have been known to get on Metro’s tracks. One recently retired Metro employee has logged an impressive catalog of the wildlife commuters on Metro.
