A stuck holding brake impeded a Metro train that left the tracks this week, forcing evacuations and leading to the midweek closure of part of the Blue Line, the transit agency’s top safety official said Thursday.
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The National Transportation Safety Board spent its second day on the tracks in Arlington during an investigation into what caused Train No. 407 to derail during the Tuesday evening rush after leaving the Rosslyn station. Metro announced Thursday evening that normal rail service would resume for Friday’s commute and the Arlington Cemetery station would reopen.
Metro Chief Safety Officer Theresa M. Impastato told Metro board members during a regular meeting Thursday that she could not speculate on possible causes of the derailment. She told the board that one car in the eight-car train had its holding break on, confirming what the train’s operator reported over radio dispatches before the incident.
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Impastato said the train operator reported the brake was stuck on car No. 7200 minutes before a set of wheels went off the track. The train ground to a halt 2,000 feet short of the Arlington Cemetery station, where it was headed just before 5 p.m. with half-full cars of riders, including commuters who had finished their workday.
Crews evacuated 187 passengers, and no one was injured.
“At this point, the investigation is in the on-site fact-finding and data collection phase, which we anticipate will continue throughout the week,” Impastato said.
NTSB begins investigation into Metro derailment that prompted evacuations
The probe led to the suspension of Metrorail service again Thursday between the Rosslyn and Pentagon stations. Free shuttle buses were transporting passengers to open stations.
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All railcars except for the derailed Metro car have been moved, NTSB spokeswoman Jennifer Gabris said. Three were moved to Alexandria and four were sent to New Carrollton for investigators to take a closer look.
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Metro board chairman Paul C. Smedberg said in a statement Thursday the board is closely monitoring the investigation.
“We are respecting the NTSB investigation process and understand our riders, stakeholders and the public want answers that will come from a full and thorough examination of the incident,” he said. “We appreciate your patience through this process and await the NTSB’s determination on the cause and any early action items that will inform the Board in our oversight role of Metro.”
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While the NTSB is taking the lead, its investigators are working with Metro employees and the rail system’s oversight agency, the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, as well as officials from the Federal Transit Administration, Impastato said.
Metro train derails on Blue Line
The train remained upright and onboard communications remained functional after the derailment, Impastato said.
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Radio dispatches recorded by openmhz.com during the derailment indicate the train operator reported the holding brake being stuck before the train left Rosslyn.
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“Four, zero, seven leaving Rosslyn,” a train operator said, “got a stuck holding brake.”
Russell G. Quimby, a former NTSB investigator for more than 20 years, said the holding brake should typically be used when a train is out of service, similar to a parking brake on a car.
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“The only time handbrakes are generally applied like that is when they’re in the yard or it’s stopped, you know, after they’ve made their run and they’re turning around or something,” he said. “When it’s unoccupied, that’s when they put those handbrakes on. But that should have been checked before the train ever left.”
Quimby said investigators will likely look at Metro procedures in place for when an unintended brake activates. They are also likely to contact the train’s manufacturer to better understand the brake system, he said.
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The rail car was part of Metro’s 7000 series, the latest model rail car, built by Kawasaki Rail at a plant in Nebraska. The cars cost about $2 million each and make up more than half of Metro’s fleet. They entered the system between 2015 and February 2020.
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Rail system experts said it’s unclear whether a depressed brake itself could force a train off the tracks. Quimby said, “depending on the track-train dynamics, such a thing could cause a derailment.”
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David Clarke, director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Tennessee, said investigators are likely looking at the condition of track ties, when cars were last inspected and diagnostic information collected from the rail car.
“With a holding brake that sticks, usually the concern there is that you’re dragging the wheel along and that skids a flat spot on the wheel. It’s going to heat the wheel up, and that’s what causes the heated spot to flatten out,” he said. “So that’s not often in my experience associated with a derailment.”
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Also Thursday, Metro staff members gave a report to board members on rail ridership and what it might look like after the pandemic.
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While ridership remains about one-third of pre-pandemic levels, the transit agency has seen a jump in passenger counts in recent weeks. The growth is coming from returning office commuters but also weekend riders, Metro officials said.
Growth in weekend ridership is outpacing increases seen on weekdays, with Metro putting more focus on attracting people making spontaneous and leisure trips as opposed to planned commutes.