I like to watch 86 in the mornings. It gets out of Ashland at about 6:19 a.m.

Amtrak train derailment near Union Station to impact VRE service through Wednesday

Ivy Lyons | ilyons@wtop.com

July 11, 2023, 10:50 PM

An occupied train derailed in D.C. on Tuesday morning, causing delays for travelers and commuters along Virginia Railway Express (VRE) and Amtrak that will not ease until early Wednesday morning.

A spokesperson for Amtrak told WTOP that Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 86 derailed while traveling at low speed inside of a tunnel south of Union Station around 8:47 a.m. Tuesday. The train remained upright, and one Amtrak employee was transported for evaluation.

Amtrak expects to resume service south of D.C. on Wednesday morning, the spokesperson told WTOP. No passengers or crew members were injured.

Passengers were moved to unaffected cars and transported to the Virginia Railway Express station at L’Enfant Plaza, D.C. Fire and EMS said. However, the derailment and schedule changes continue to impact VRE service times.

“Due to this morning’s incident involving an Amtrak train just south of Union Station, VRE service will continue to be impacted tomorrow,” VRE said Tuesday. “Train traffic is still suspended going into and out of Union Station, and we still are unable to retrieve our train equipment from the coachyard north of Union Station.”

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WTOP’s Acacia James, Alejandro Alvarez and Joshua Barlow contributed to this story.

Ivy Lyons
Ivy Lyons is a digital journalist for WTOP.com. Since 2018, they have worked on Capitol Hill, at NBC News in Washington, and with WJLA in Washington.

ilyons@wtop.com
@IvyALyons