Metro News Release

For immediate release: November 30, 2006

Metrorail service resumes on the Yellow Line after fatal accident

Metrorail service on the Yellow Line resumed between the Huntington and Eisenhower Ave Metrorail stations at 3:12 p.m. after service was halted because of a fatal accident that occurred on the tracks at 9:30 a.m.

Two Metro track inspectors were struck by a four-car Yellow Line train on an elevated track between the Huntington and Eisenhower Ave Metrorail stations at 9:30 a.m. today, Nov. 30. One employee was killed, and the second person is in critical condition at a local hospital.

Leslie A. Cherry, a 29-year veteran employee from Maryland, died while conducting routine track inspection along the rail line. The injured worker has been a Metro employee since April 2006.

Metro is conducting an internal investigation, and is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board on its independent investigation.

The Yellow Line train (train 307) involved in the incident was leaving the Huntington station and heading into the Alexandria rail yard. There were no passengers aboard the train because it was not in service. The train operator, a Metro employee since 1999, was given routine drug and alcohol tests.

The Huntington and Eisenhower Ave stations were closed for about 4.5 hours this morning as emergency personnel investigated the incident. During the investigation, Yellow Line trains terminated at the Braddock Road Metrorail station. Metro ran 26 buses to shuttle passengers between the Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Ave and Huntington stations.

This is the second employee fatality this year. On May 14, an automatic train control technician was struck and killed by a Red Line train at the Dupont Circle Metrorail station.

News release issued on November 30, 2006.