NORFOLK – A light rail train derailed in the 700 block of West Brambleton Avenue Friday near the American Red Cross building. The incident happened around 5:45 p.m.
The Tide car was heading towards the EVMC/Fort Norfolk Station while another train was at the station. The operator of the moving train reversed course to switch tracks so that the train in the station would be able to leave.
President and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit explained, "While this particular train was still in the switch area, reversed directions to go back east. That doesn't work. You have to drive all the way through the switch before you can reverse directions."
"It was the, 'Uh-oh. We're gonna be her for a minute,'" said Tide passenger Sarah Harter, describing her reaction to the derailment. She and her family who moved to Norfolk from Charlotte recently were among the 6 people on board when the train derailed.
"It was a jarring, and it made a couple of loud noises, but, then, it immediately stopped," recalled Robert Harter, "and the operator shut things down and was very professional about taking care of the people on board."
"We were pretty much right over the spot that derailed, right in the middle, so, yeah, we felt it pretty good," shared passenger Lindsay Pasch of Virginia Beach. "It was just sort of a jarring motion, and, then, we were like, 'Hmmm. That's not right.'"
HRT is investigating the incident and will look at its video to try to get a clearer picture of what happened. Shucet said the train, tracks, and equipment will be examined but thoroughly, but he did not expect crews would find any major problems.
Shucet expected moving the train to take several hours. He added The Tide should be up and running fully on Saturday.
For the time being, a “bus bridge” is running people from EVMC/Fort Norfolk to Harbor Park. Trains still are running on the east side of the system between Harbor Park and Newtown.
Part of the light rail system was down for much of Friday, as crews worked to repair an electrical problem.
Service was down between the Newtown and Ballentine stations. That included Newtown, Military, Ingleside, and Ballentine.
Hampton Roads Transit officials say a connection of the overhead wire came apart just east of the Military Highway station.
Buses and shuttles transported travelers until service was restored. They were leaving about every 15 minutes. Crews had the system back up and working. Then the derailment occurred shutting down the west side of the system.
The Tide averages 1,200 riders daily during rush hour.
