Metro News Release

For immediate release: October 17, 2005

Metro worker hit by train dies

A Metro employee, who was hit by a train earlier this month, died Saturday.

Michael Waldron, 47, of Riverdale, Md., was hospitalized since the October 1 accident near the Braddock Road rail station on the Yellow and Blue lines, Metro officials said.

Waldron was hired by Metro in 2002 to work on bridges, tunnels and other structures. Metro’s preliminary safety investigation determined that he was sideswiped by a Yellow Line train headed toward Huntington just after 4 p.m. while bending down to pick up a piece of equipment near the tracks. Waldron was working on a project to drill drainage holes in a retaining wall along the tracks near the Braddock Road station.

Blue and Yellow trains were sharing one track in that area to replace a track switch outside of the Braddock Road station.

Metro Safety and Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials are investigating the accident.

Metro hasn’t had an employee death on the job since September 1997 when a track worker was electrocuted after he made contact with the 750-volt third rail in a Red Line tunnel near the Bethesda station. He was performing routine maintenance when he slipped and hit the third rail.

News release issued on October 17, 2005.