(The following article by Paul Bradley was posted on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website on January 6.)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Railroad traffic between Washington and points south was to resume last night after the corridor was blocked in both directions all day by the derailment of a commuter train near Quantico.
Authorities said one of two tracks damaged by the derailment of a Virginia Railway Express train was scheduled to reopen at 7 p.m., allowing resumption of freight and passenger service along the busy corridor.
VRE said it expects to run a full schedule of trains this morning. But the single-track operation, combined with a backlog of freight traffic, means travelers aboard northbound VRE and Amtrak trains should expect delays in reaching Washington. Southbound delays are also expected.
Train traffic was disrupted after the locomotive and three cars of the northbound commuter train derailed near Quantico, slightly injuring three passengers and a conductor. Authorities said VRE train 304, carrying 520 passengers and three crew members, derailed north of the Quantico Creek Bridge at 6:43 a.m.
The derailment caused major disruptions along the line, which is also used by Amtrak passenger trains and CSX freight trains. The tracks are owned by CSX and used by about 50 trains a day.
The derailed train, consisting of a locomotive pushing six double-decker cars, had departed Fredericksburg at 6:10 a.m. and was due at Union Station in Washington at 7:38 a.m.
The train stayed upright after it derailed, minimizing potential injuries, said Capt. Tim Taylor, spokesman for the Prince William County Fire and Rescue Department. Four people were taken to a hospital as a precaution, Taylor said. Prince William police officer John Bogert said a fifth person was taken from the crash in a life-support unit but he couldn’t say if the person suffered an injury or had some other medical condition, The Associated Press reported.
A second VRE train picked up passengers stranded by the derailment. The second train headed south, returning passengers to stations where they boarded.
Jamal Rashad, who was among the scores of passengers who disembarked at Fredericksburg shortly after 10 a.m., said he had been sleeping when the train car he was in derailed.
“Suddenly I was awakened by this bumping. It felt almost like being in a minor earthquake,” said Rashad, a 57-year-old attorney from Caroline County who routinely rides VRE from Fredericksburg to Washington.
Rashad said passengers’ primary concern was that the cars not overturn.
“Two women sitting across from me were nearly hysterical,” he said. “It seemed to go on for a few minutes. In reality, it was probably several seconds. When it finally came to rest, there was just a tremendous sense of relief.”
After the derailment, all VRE trains between Fredericksburg and Washington were canceled. The trains carry about 8,000 passengers a day.
Amtrak suspended or terminated en route 14 trains. A major exception was Amtrak’s northbound auto train between Sanford, Fla., and Lorton. Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said the train took a circuitous detour, arriving in Lorton about 11 hours behind schedule.
Passengers on Amtrak trains that were en route from points south of Washington were bused from Richmond to Washington to transfer to trains northward. Other trains were canceled before departure with no alternate transportation.
CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said the 30 freight trains that use the tracks every day were being held in place until the tracks were back in service.
The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear, but it occurred near a switch where the single track over Quantico Creek branches out into two tracks, said Paul Schlamm, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. Schlamm said the train’s engineer reported he had cleared the switch and was given the go-ahead signal to accelerate to 45 mph when the derailment occurred.
For years, Quantico Creek has been a major source of frustration for VRE and Amtrak travelers as trains are forced to slow to a crawl or stop before crossing the single set of tracks. Work on a new, $26 million bridge that adds another set of tracks has been under way since 2004, with completion planned for early 2007.
The derailment was the first for VRE, a commuter rail that began operating in 1992.