A look back at tragedies and mishaps in the Washington rail and bus system since 2009.
Created by washingtonpost on Jul 14, 2010
Last updated: 01/05/11 at 09:56 AM
A string of escalator failures forces thousands of rush-hour commuters to take long, breathless hikes out of cavernous stations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071306345.html
A teenager wearing a Metro uniform drives off in a bus from a Bladensburg garage and picks up passengers before crashing into a tree.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/10/AR2010071002883.html
A Blue Line train takes a wrong turn after a controller manually sends it toward New Carrollton on the Orange Line, causing confusion and some panic among passengers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063005068.html
Two Metro riders are locked in the Cheverly Station on the Orange Line after the station manager apparently misread the schedule for the last train.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/29/AR2010062904940.html
A Metrobus ends up on a Silver Spring home's lawn after rear-ending a truck.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/maryland/video-metrobus-veers-onto-lawn.html
Metro is slow and initially inaccurate in reporting an incident in which a Red Line train operator executed an emergency stop behind another train at Wheaton Station.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/07/AR2010050704983.html
Metro's chronic escalator outages -- including 63 to 69 as of this week, depending on the day, or about 11 percent of the total of 588 -- has riders up in arms.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031801961.html
A Red Line train leaving the Farragut North Station ends up on the wrong track and is automatically derailed by safety devices to prevent a possible collision with another train, according to Metro sources familiar with events.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/12/AR2010021202561.html
Frightened commuters who were stuck in a Blue Line train for about 40 minutes lash out at Metro because they say they received little information about what was happening in a tunnel near Smithsonian Station.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020903643.html
A slow-moving vehicle carrying workers hits a patch of ice and accelerates out of control, plowing into a pickup truck mounted on the rails.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203678.html
A high-rail vehicle backing up along the Red Line strikes and kills two veteran Metro employees on the tracks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012603430.html
A team of independent safety inspectors is nearly by a Metro train that appeared to be traveling at full speed and making no attempt to slow, as required by agency rules.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/06/AR2010010605157.html
Six-car train smashes into a parked six-car train at a Northern Virginia rail yard, injuring three workers and causing at least $9 million in damage.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113004031.html
A federal judge orders Metro to pay a $200,000 fine for violating the Clean Water Act when it released hazardous chemicals into the sewer system over six days in 2003.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/25/AR2009112503226.html
Aging power unit fails, causing a massive shutdown of vital customer-related communications, including the subway's public address system and two-way radio communications with bus drivers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110404385.html
A piece of equipment that came off a Red Line train during the morning rush hour creates delays on Metro's busiest line for nearly two hours.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100602866.html
A 61-year-old woman is struck by a Metrobus in the Trinidad area of Northeast Washington. She later dies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100603051.html
A Metrorail operator leaves his train --with passengers on it -- at the New York Avenue Station last week and refuses to complete his shift, transit agency officials said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/10/AR2009101002185.html
About eight passengers find themselves trapped inside station in Alexandria for 30 minutes after the station manager locked up before the last train had arrived.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/25/AR2009092503549.html
A rail worker is struck and seriously injured by a six-car train between the Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport stations. He later dies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091403773.html
A 30-year-old House staffer was taking a jog before work when a Metrobus struck and critically injured her about a third of a mile from her apartment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/03/AR2009090301780.html
Metro board members say agency failed to give enough information about the impending closures of the Reagan National Airport Station and two others planned for Labor Day weekend.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/02/AR2009090202437.html
Two Metro mechanics are transported to the hospital after a two-car train strikes the rail cars they were working on at the West Falls Church rail yard.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082701769.html
Steven T. Griffith touches a live wire while installing a new air compressor at the Bladensburg bus garage. He dies shortly after at a hospital.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082701769.html
Worker is is struck and killed by a machine spreading gravel on the Orange Line between the Vienna and Dunn Loring stations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081003100.html
A Metrobus operator is arrested after police responded to an accident she was involved in and discovered that her license had been suspended.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/31/AR2009073101948.html
The train control system designed to prevent Metro crashes is found to be malfunctioning across the railroad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072102479.html
Train operator opens doors on the wrong side of the platform at the Waterfront Station on the Green Line.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072402109.html
A Metro bus driver pushes a woman who had spit on him for failing to pick her up.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/report-bus-driver-assaulted-pa.html
One Metro train slams into the back of another on the Red Line at the height of the evening rush, killing eight passengers and the train operator.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202508.html
A Metrobus driver is arrested after he -- while on his bus route -- tried to solicit an undercover D.C. police officer posing as a prostitute.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/04/AR2010040401949.html
Two trains derail near the Bethesda Metro station during Metro's busiest season.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/27/AR2009032702630.html
Bus driver Jelani K. Slay is fatally shot by an off-duty D.C. police officer after he brandished a gun and tried to rob the officer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031603131.html
A rush-hour train on Capitol Hill comes "dangerously close" to another train and halts only after the operator hit the emergency brake.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/08/AR2009080801142.html
Metro bus driver punches a patrol officer who was dressed as McGruff the Crime Dog, the popular mascot who educates children about crime prevention.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/03/AR2009030303248.html
A six-car Yellow Line Metro train derails at the Mount Vernon Square station.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/19/AR2009021903219.html
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