The tree trunk was as thick as a telephone pole. And as MARTA train 308 approached, it lay splayed across the train tracks.
Video shows the operator react seconds before the train plows through the tree. Then, a long, explosive sound, as loud as if a bomb had gone off. The train jerks from side to side as one passenger grabs a handrail to steady himself.
Video of the incident was obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the Georgia Open Records Act. The accident caused no injuries, but the train derailed — the type of accident considered a major safety event that triggers mandatory reporting to federal and state regulators.
About 15 seconds after impact, the train comes to a stop. Reports later estimate the train traveled 700 feet after hitting the tree — just shy of the length of two football fields. The operator asks passengers to step away from the doors, telling them the train hit a big tree.
“We’re lucky to be alive,” one rider says.
“Yes, we are — very lucky to be alive,” the operator replies.
Once MARTA police and rail supervisors arrived on the scene near Armour Yard, the impact of the Dec. 29 collision became clearer: “Extensive damage” to the tracks and disabling damage to the first railcar, whose front axle had derailed. The third rail, which powers the system, was laying on the ground.
Preliminary reports from MARTA’s investigation into the incident were also obtained by the AJC through open records requests to both the transit agency and the Georgia Department of Transportation. MARTA’s video shows the view from the front of the train, the operator’s cab and the first car of the train.
The initial MARTA police report said the train was “struck by a fallen tree,” but the video shows the train hit the tree as it lay across the tracks.
Derailments are infrequent but trigger mandatory reporting to the state and to the Federal Transit Administration — reports MARTA made within roughly 90 minutes, records show. Before the December incident, MARTA trains had derailed on the tracks 14 times since 2014.
One of those derailments, in 2021, also involved a tree, according to FTA data.
It was windy on Dec. 29, with WSB-TV forecasters predicting gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, when the tree fell across the tracks.
Heavy winds are an enemy of Atlanta’s revered tree canopy. Just minutes after train 308 derailed, an eastbound train near the Kensington station made contact with a tree, according to the rail superintendents’ daily log. There was no damage in that instance.
MARTA routinely inspects trees and vegetation along the entirety of the track and consults arborists as needed, spokesperson Stephany Fisher said in an email.
“The tree that fell on the track and caused the Dec. 29 derailment was deemed healthy and not in need of any pruning or removal upon most recent inspection,” Fisher said. “As is apt to occur in extreme wind events, even healthy trees may be toppled.”
In areas along the track that are within MARTA’s control, like around the Indian Creek station, the transit agency takes additional measures to protect against tree falls. There, MARTA staff and contractors have thinned the canopy “in efforts to further reduce risks of tree fall,” Fisher said.
As part of its investigation into the derailment, MARTA is looking at data from all tree strikes from the past 12 months. The agency told GDOT it’s looking at where they’ve happened in order to eliminate or reduce the number of incidents that cause significant damage.
GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale said Wednesday that MARTA has preliminarily identified six instances of tree strikes. Four happened near Redding Road in Brookhaven.
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