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Candace Smith, a Metro spokeswoman, identified the woman as Gweno Ladisch, 33, a white female who carried a French passport. Ladisch stepped onto the track bed in front of the train, which was approaching the station and headed in the direction of Glenmont, shortly before 1 p.m.

The train operator attempted to stop the train but was unable to do so in time, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. "When a train is coming in at that speed it will not be able to stop on a dime," Taubenkibel said. "As soon as the operator hits the button the train will come to a stop, and it did, but certainly the train can't stop in time."

The incident marked the second time over the course of the weekend that a person intentionally stepped in front of a Metro train and was killed. Saturday, a man was struck shortly before noon by an Orange Line train at the Potomac Avenue station. Metro officials have said the man intentionally placed himself in front of the train.

"You never know what's going on in a person's head and you can't predict when an incident like this is going to happen," Taubenkibel said.

Both Metro transit police and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue officials responded to Sunday's incident, and the Bethesda station was closed both directly after the incident and later in the afternoon as Ladisch's body was removed from the tracks, according to Taubenkibel. The first time the station closed was between 1:17 and 1:39 p.m., and the second was between 3:10 and 4:37 p.m.

During the closures, trains single-tracked through the Bethesda station without stopping there. Shuttle bus service was provided between Medical Center and Friendship Heights during the closures for passengers traveling to the Bethesda station, Taubenkibel said.

The incident caused delays on the Red Line, which was already undergoing scheduled track maintenance, during which trains had already been sharing the same track between the Van Ness and Dupont stations.