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Metro investigating possible red signal overrun near National Airport

July 27, 2016 at 4:25 p.m. EDT

Three weeks after a Metrorail operator was fired after running a red signal in a  near miss with an oncoming train, another operator may have run a red signal Wednesday at National Airport, Metro officials said.

Metro said a train blew through a red signal after servicing Reagan National Airport station, according to a memo sent to Capitol Hill staff. In a separate statement sent to The Washington Post, Metro said computers at the agency’s rail control center, where staffers monitor train traffic in real time, indicated a possible signal overrun about 2:45 p.m.

The transit agency said a southbound Blue Line train was leaving the station when it was stopped with two of its six cars past the platform. The train operator was removed from duty, as is standard in safety investigations, and passengers were offloaded to the platform.

No passengers were injured in the incident, but it did result in delays: Blue and Yellow Line trains in the area single-tracked for nearly an hour. Metro added that the incident caused “no major damage” to the switch at the location of the incident. Signals dictate whether a train is supposed to pass onto a switch, where trains change tracks.

With latest ‘near miss,’ Metro’s problems running red signals continue

Earlier this month, an operator ran a red signal at the Glenmont Station on the Red Line and moved into the path of an oncoming train, Metro said.

The agency said both trains were carrying passengers.

The incident resulted in three passengers being evacuated onto a section of track where electricity was still running to the third rail — a major safety concern. No injuries occurred, but Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld disciplined five employees: two controllers, an assistant superintendent, a superintendent and a utility supervisor.

Some received written reprimands while others were served suspensions of up to three days. A supervisor was also demoted.

Metro said it is launching a safety investigation and notifying the Federal Transit Administration, which assumed safety authority over the system last year.