An 18-year-old female died after she was struck by a Red Line train Wednesday morning, in what officials said was the latest of a rash of suicide attempts on the Metro system in recent years.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said she appeared to intentionally jump from the platform in front of the Glenmont-bound train as it entered the Takoma station at 9:29 a.m. Police and emergency medical services responding to Takoma pronounced the teenager dead at the scene.
Trains were forced to single-track in both directions between the Takoma and Silver Spring stations, disrupting service for much of Wednesday morning as police recovered the body from the rails.
Delays continued into the afternoon until about 2:30 p.m., when full service resumed.
Metro officials did not identify the woman.
The death is the latest in a number of suicides on the Metro system. At least nine people committed suicide on the transit system in 2009, and Metro records show five people killed themselves in 2010.
Figures don’t include attempted suicides in which the person survived, including two attempted suicides on the Red Line this year.
A man tried to kill himself on the Red Line in March, putting himself into the path of a train at the Rockville station.
A woman placed herself intentionally in front of a train leaving the Rhode Island Avenue station in March, but survived being struck by the slow-moving train.
A Blue Line train at Metro Center struck another man in May, when witnesses told Metro officials he intentionally leapt from the platform.
Accidental falls also have taken a toll on the transit system, killing at least four people on Metro in two years.
Another man, Victor Robinson, was hit at the Friendship Heights station on Aug. 1 after falling onto the tracks in front of an inbound train. Robinson’s family said he may have suffered an epileptic seizure, causing him to fall off the platform.
Robinson was rescued from underneath the train and survived, though his right foot was amputated and he had surgery on his right wrist.
