Don’t be alarmed if you see fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles swarming the West Falls Church Metro station area this Sunday (May 31).
Metro announced today that the West Falls Church Rail Yard to the north of the transit station near I-66 and the Dulles Access Road in Idylwood will host an emergency response exercise from 6 a.m. to noon that day.
“This exercise is designed to simulate a real emergency,” the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said in a press release. “People in the area may notice an increased number of emergency vehicles responding to the rail yard. Please be advised this is just a drill.”
Organized by Metro with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department and Northern Virginia Response System, the exercise will evaluate how prepared and coordinated first responders and Metro staff are as they handle a simulated train derailment that results “in a mass casualty incident,” according to the release.
The drill isn’t expected to affect rail or bus service at the station, which averages 1,775 daily entries on weekdays, according to Metro ridership data.
WMATA says the exercise is “one of many preparedness activities” planned for what will likely be a busy summer, as events commemorating the country’s 250th anniversary ramp up on top of the usual seasonal influx of D.C. tourists.
Metro has dealt with real-life train derailments in the past, most notably when a Blue Line train went off the tracks near Rosslyn on Oct. 12, 2021. Approximately 400 passengers were evacuated, and a few needed treatment for medical emergencies, but fortunately, no significant injuries were reported in that case.
The incident prompted WMATA to pull more than half of its railcars from its fleet for inspection after an investigation revealed deficient wheel axles, leading to a prolonged drop in service levels.
