It is too soon to know what caused the Washington Metrorail crash that killed at least six seven nine people. The horrific photos show one train car telescoping into another, which is the last thing you want to have happen in a rail accident. Considering the accident took place just after 5 pm, it was lucky there were not more fatalities.
Time has not been kind to the Metrorail system. The Antiplanner remembers when the first lines opened and the trains exploded into the various underground stations and smoothly came to a stop. Today, the trains lurch and shudder, are delayed or cancelled by broken rails and “baffling” smoke in the tunnels, and passengers have to put up with numerous elevator and escalator outages.
