A man is fighting for his life after being trapped beneath a Metro train at the Virginia Square station in Arlington shortly before noon on Friday. Rescue crews worked to free him before rushing him to a nearby trauma center, and the incident temporarily disrupted Orange and Silver Line service between two busy stations.
Arlington County Fire and EMS first posted about the emergency on the social platform X at 12:16 p.m., according to dcnewsnow.com. Eight minutes later, the department said crews had managed to get the man out from under the train, the station reported. As ARLnow reported, “A man is fighting for his life after being struck by a Metro train at the Virginia Square station.”
Once freed, the man was extricated and rushed to the Virginia Hospital Center trauma center, per ARLnow's reporting. Fire and EMS officials said the adult male had life-threatening injuries. WJLA similarly reported that the man sustained life-threatening injuries after becoming trapped beneath the train, attributing the account to Arlington Fire and EMS.
Emergency Response Snarls Traffic Near the Station
Arlington County Fire officials warned of a significant emergency response and traffic impacts in the surrounding area as crews worked the scene. “Please avoid the area and use alternate routes,” the department said, according to the same ARLnow report. Trains remained stopped between Clarendon and Ballston as of that outlet's publication time Friday.
The disruption extended well beyond the platform itself. Orange and Silver Line trains were not running between Clarendon and Ballston because of the incident, the station's report notes. Metro set up shuttle bus service to bridge the gap, and riders were also told they could use Metrobus Route A58 between Clarendon and Ballston.
Single-Tracking and Rerouted Silver Line Service
By 1:01 p.m., trains were single-tracking between Ballston and Clarendon, according to the same account. Silver Line trains were later running only between Ashburn and Downtown Largo, with riders advised to use the Orange Line to continue their trips, the outlet reported. Both Orange Line and Silver Line riders were told to expect delays as crews cleared the scene.
A Pattern of Close Calls on Metro's Tracks
Friday's incident is not the first time Arlington crews have had to free someone trapped beneath a train. In March 2023, emergency crews rescued a person who was hit by a train at the Crystal City Metro station, according to The Washington Post. That person was conscious and alert and stuck under a Metro car when Arlington County Fire Department rescue workers arrived around 8:25 p.m., the paper reported.
Virginia Square station has seen tragedy before. A man was struck and killed by a Metro train there in July 2017, per the Post's reporting at the time, with authorities saying the man was intentionally on the tracks when he was fatally hit.
More recently, a trespasser was struck by a Silver Line train in Fairfax County between the Wiehle-Reston East and Spring Hill stations earlier this month, triggering single-tracking and delays, as Hoodline previously reported. That same report noted a man died after entering the tracks at East Falls Church station and being struck by an oncoming train, and described a separate, nonfatal strike at the Foggy Bottom-GWU station that rippled across the Orange, Silver and Blue lines and temporarily reduced Silver Line service to the Ashburn-Ballston segment.
