The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its accident report on the July 2016 derailment of a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) train traversing a crossover in the East Falls Church interlocking.
The NTSB report confirms what a WMATA-led preliminary investigation found a few days after the derailment: Deteriorated ties allowed track gauge to widen resulting in the derailment. However, NTSB's official probabe cause places culpability on WMATA's maintenance practices writing in the report, "the probable cause of this accident was a wide track gauge condition resulting from the sustained use of deteriorating wooden crossties due to [WMATA's] ineffective inspection and maintenance practices and inadequate safety oversight."
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