1 Metro 'Track Walker' Killed; Another Critically Injured

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - An out-of-service Metrorail train struck two track workers Thursday, killing one and critically injuring the other, officials said.

It was the second death among workers in the Washington area's transit system this year and the 14th in Metro's 30-year history.

The accident occurred about 9:30 a.m. on an elevated section of track between the Huntington and Eisenhower Avenue stations on the Yellow Line. The train involved had no passengers on board and was headed to a rail yard in Alexandria.

Metro identified the worker who died as Leslie A. Cherry, a 29-year employee from Maryland. The injured employee, who was not identified, began working for the transit system in April.

The two employees were "track walkers" and were doing routine inspections, Metro said. Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said later that the workers knew they were on an active track.

The NTSB has taken over the investigation.

"Obviously, something terrible has gone wrong," Jack Requa, acting general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, told reporters.

Rosenker said investigators retrieved the train's vehicle monitoring system, which he compared to an airplane's flight data recorder. He said the board would retrieve the dispatch tapes Friday and predicted the tapes would help shed light on what happened.

Metro said the train operator, who has worked for Metro since 1999, was tested for drugs and alcohol after the accident. Test results were still pending.

The Eisenhower Avenue and Huntington stations were closed for more than four hours, and Metro ran temporary shuttle-bus service. The stations reopened in time for the evening rush hour.

Emergency workers could be seen loading a body onto one of several ambulances outside the Eisenhower Avenue station nearly three hours after the accident. Fire trucks and police vehicles from several jurisdictions, including the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County, were at the scene.

Fourteen Metro workers have died on the job since the system opened in 1976, including six who were struck by trains. The most recent fatalities occurred in May and in October 2005. Before that, the last death was in 1997.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)