Metro News Release

For immediate release: April 7, 2010

Mt. Vernon Sq./7th St-Convention Center Metrorail station temporarily closed

Major delays on Yellow/Green Lines after woman struck by train

The Mt. Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center Metrorail station is temporarily closed while officials investigate an incident in which a woman was struck by a Green Line train at the station at about 1:18 p.m. today (April 7). The woman has been taken to a nearby hospital.

The Yellow Line is currently split into two segments and is operating from Huntington to Gallery Place-Chinatown Metrorail station and from the Shaw-Howard U to Fort Totten Metrorail stations. The Green Line also is operating in two segments from Branch Avenue to Gallery Place-Chinatown Metrorail stations and from Greenbelt to the Shaw-Howard U Metrorail stations.

Customers should expect significant delays on the Yellow and Green Lines throughout the remainder of the afternoon as emergency personnel remain on the scene.

Customers may take Metrobus Routes 70, 71 and 79 (an express route) to get around the incident. Those bus routes operate along Georgia Avenue and 7th Street.

Waits for shuttle buses to get around the incident will be extremely lengthy (upwards of one hour) as the buses will be dealing with traffic. Additionally, the buses only carry 50 people, but a crowded train can carry in the neighborhood of 800 people.

The six-car train involved in the incident was headed in the direction of Branch Avenue. The preliminary report is that the woman intentionally placed herself in the path of the oncoming train.

News release issued at 2:20 pm, April 7, 2010.