Two separate incidents involving Metro didn’t affect passenger service but still created problems for the transit service on Tuesday.
A piece of track equipment being used in a work zone as part of the SafeTrack program derailed shortly after midnight on Tuesday. The derailment occurred between the Ballston and East Falls Church stations.
The equipment was described as a spiker, which is used to install new rail spikes into wooden tiles to install rails spikes into wooden tied to hold the rail in place. No injuries were reported, and the operator of the equipment, as well as other employees directly involved, was removed from service during the investigation.
Later that morning, a train made rear-end contact with a stopped train ahead of it in the New Carrollton Yard on the Orange Line. Metro said the railcar bodies did not come into contact, but there was contact between the couplers at the end of the cars around 5:20 a.m.
There were no passengers aboard, and no injuries. Both train operators were taken out of service, and the investigation is ongoing.
