On February 12, 2010, about 10:16 a.m., outbound Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority (WMATA) Red Line Metrorail train 156, consisting of six passenger cars, departed the
Farragut North station on the No. 2 main track and was routed by the automatic train control
system into a pocket track. The train operator completed the move into the pocket track and
stopped the train briefly about 180 feet before the red signal at the exit from the pocket track.
The operator then moved the train at 7 mph past the signal and through an electrically powered
derail.3 The front wheel set of the lead car derailed, causing the operator to apply emergency
braking and the train to stop 27.9 feet after the point of derailment. At the time of the accident,
train 156 was carrying 345 passengers.
We determined that the probable cause of the accident was the train operator’s failure to follow proper operating procedures, which resulted in her operating the train past a red signal and over the interconnected derail. Contributing to the accident was the failure of WMATA management to provide proper supervision of the train operator, which resulted in the incomplete configuration of the train identification and destination codes leading to the routing of the train into the pocket track.
