Collision of Two Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail Trains Near Fort Totten Station Washington, D.C. (June 22, 2009)

On Monday, June 22, 2009, about 4:58 p.m., eastern daylight time, inbound Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail train 112 struck the rear of stopped inbound Metrorail train
214. The accident occurred on aboveground track on the Metrorail Red Line near the Fort Totten station
in Washington, D.C. The lead car of train 112 struck the rear car of train 214, causing the rear car of train
214 to telescope into the lead car of train 112, resulting in a loss of occupant survival space in the lead car
of about 63 feet (about 84 percent of its total length). Nine people aboard train 112, including the train
operator, were killed. Emergency response agencies reported transporting 52 people to local hospitals.
Damage to train equipment was estimated to be $12 million.
As a result of its investigation of this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board makes
recommendations to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administration, the TriState Oversight Committee, the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Alstom Signaling Inc., and six transit
systems that use General Railway Signal Company track circuit modules (Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Greater Cleveland
Regional Transit Authority, Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transportation Authority, Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Chicago Transit Authority).