FREE RIDE

Smoke, Fire Cause Another Messy Metro Commute

AFTER ANOTHER SERIES of smoky eruptions shut down another batch of Metrorail stations during Monday's evening rush, Metro officials are considering the possibility that the incidents could have been caused intentionally.

"This is not normal," Metro General Manager John Catoe said, according to The Post's Lena H. Sun and Martin Weil. "This is highly, highly irregular."

Report Sun and Weil:

Asked whether he thought the incidents might be intentional, [Catoe] said: "Could it be something else [other than an accident]? Everything now is suspicious."

A spokesman for the D.C. fire department said that the department was "very concerned" about the large number of incidents in a brief period and that the department would try to assist Metro in determining whether they were more than accidental.

Monday's delays began at around 7 p.m. after several trains lost power between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations on the Blue and Yellow lines, according to a Metro press statement. A track fire was reported at the Pentagon City station. A fire was also reported at the U Street-Cardozo station, which shut down both that station and the stop at Columbia Heights from 7:20 p.m. to 8:40 p.m., the statement said.

Shuttle buses ferried passengers between L'Enfant Plaza and Huntington and also between the Georgia Avenue-Petworth and Shaw-Howard University stations.

Monday's incidents followed a similar spate of smoke, fire and power problems that crippled the Metro system on Sunday night. On Monday, Metro theorized that those incidents might have been caused by a power surge from weekend thunderstorms.

As Metro service drew to a close Monday night, there was still no train service between Arlington Cemetery and Braddock Road on the Blue and Yellow lines.

» FOR THE LATEST on Metro's system status on Tuesday morning, check in with washingtonpost.com.

» "Smoke Shuts Down More Metro Stations" [WaPo]
» "Power Problems, Fires Cause a Second Day of Major Delays on Metrorail" [WMATA]

EARLIER:
» "Power Surge May Have Caused Sunday's Rail Woes" [Free Ride/Express]
» "Sunday Misery for Evening Metrorail Riders" [Free Ride/Express]

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