As its investigation of the smoke and electrical arcing accident in a tunnel near the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station on January 12 continues, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is looking at another smoke and electrical arcing event that occurred in February.
On February 11, 2015, at approximately 1:39 p.m. ET, the operator of a Washington Metro Area Transit Authority Orange Line train, traveling from Court House Station to Rosslyn Station, reported smoke in the tunnel as it approached Rosslyn. The train operator was instructed to reverse ends and move the train back to Court House Station, which did occur. All smoke was cleared by 2:50 p.m. and normal train service was resumed. There were no injuries as a result of the incident.
On the day of the incident, the NTSB responded to the location. Upon arrival at 4:10 p.m., investigators noted no remaining smoke and that normal service had resumed in the WMATA Court House Station.
On February 11, the NTSB requested that WMATA deliver the electrical components from the Court House incident to the NTSB materials laboratory for examination. These components were received on February 19.
NTSB investigators accompanied WMATA personnel on site visits to the location of the Court House incident where additional electrical components were identified for further examination. Investigators requested that those components be sent to the NTSB.