The
1982 Washington Metro train derailment was an incident involving a single
Orange Line Washington Metro train during the afternoon
rush hour of January 13, 1982, in
Downtown Washington, D.C. in the
United States. The train
derailed as it was being backed up from an improperly closed rail switch between the
Federal Triangle and
Smithsonian stations, and caused the deaths of three passengers. Several survivors were trapped for hours, and 25 were injured. The incident was the first resulting in a fatality involving the Metro system and remained as the deadliest incident occurring in the system until the
June 22, 2009 collision that resulted in nine fatalities.