Atlanta - MARTA back on track after derailment

By Paul Donsky and Mike Morris

MARTA has restored service on the north-south line following a derailment this morning at the Medical Center station in Dunwoody.

MARTA officials say human error is likely to blame for the 8:40 a.m. accident that caused no injuries but led to 20-minute delays on the north rail line for much of the day.

MARTA spokeswoman Joselyn Baker said the derailment happened as a northbound train was being taken out of service. Baker said the train had stopped just north of the station due to an as-yet undetermined mechanical problem.

The train was traveling at a low rate of speed when the front two wheels encountered a switched portion of the track and ran off the rails, officials said.

An undetermined number of passengers were taken off the train and evacuated by bus and train, said Fulton County Fire spokesman Gregory Chambers.

“MARTA responded fast and got folks off the train and onto buses,” Chambers said. Others were put on other trains, Baker said.

Service resumed on a single track, delaying both northbound and southbound service, Baker said.

Baker said a derailment on the MARTA system was very unusual.

“It is not a common occurrence,” she said. “It’s something that will be fully investigated.”

The last derailment occurred in 1996, officials said.

The problem began after MARTA began “single-tracking” around the stalled vehicle, enabling northbound trains to use southbound tracks. The trains switch back to the northbound tracks just north of the Medical Center station.

The stalled train, however, improperly moved north into the switched portion of track. When the train began to move back south toward the platform to offload passengers, the wheels ran off the rails, officials said.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution