Metro riders should expect delays after a Red Line train derailed outside the Silver Spring station, on Colesville Road, on Tuesday.
“Two cars were slightly off the track at the platform,” said Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer. He said there were no reports of serious injuries. Thirty-two passengers were onboard, and all disembarked the derailed train onto the Silver Spring station platform, said Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. He stated the derailment occurred at about 11:20 a.m. as the train was pulling out of the station. The first two cars of the train had left the station, and it was moving at a slow speed, Stessel said.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service said the train derailed at low speed at the platform and that no one was seriously hurt. Spokesman Pete Piringer said it took a while to get the conductor and one passenger off the train because the doors were jammed, but they weren’t hurt. “Things were pretty stable when I left the platform,” he said.
The Red Line train was traveling to Glenmont from Silver Spring when it derailed. The rear six of the 7000-series train’s eight cars had not gone past the platform at the time of the derailment, which allowed passengers to walk off the train using standard doors, Stessel said.
The train’s operator is undergoing drug and alcohol testing as federal regulations require after all incidents.
“While the investigation is ongoing and all factors will be reviewed, current information does not indicate any conditions or failures related to infrastructure or equipment,” Stessel said.
Service has been suspended between the Takoma and Wheaton stations. Georgia Avenue, Colesville Road, and the East-West Highway had been blocked, but have since reopened. Service was also suspended between the Van Ness and Dupont Circle stations because of early morning flooding after overnight storms.
Metro has made shuttle buses available at shutdown stations:
Shuttle buses:
Bus Bay E at Wheaton
Bus Bay E at Forest Glen
Bus Bay 219 at Silver Spring
Bus Bay F at Takoma
Bus alternatives:
To DC: S2, S4, 70, 79
To Bethesda: J2
To Rockville: Q4
To Wheaton: Y2, Y7, Y8
To Prince George’s Plaza: C4, F4
At about 11:19AM #WMATA 🔴Glenmont Train 108 derailed while departing Silver Spring station and passing switch 5A which leads into the pocket track outbound of the station. @MetrorailSafety is enroute to site https://t.co/fhbCuyXo2k
— Rail Transit OPS Group (@RailTransitOPS) July 7, 2020
