Long Train Coming: Metro's 12-Car Mistake
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This normal-sized train has nothing on its elongated counterpart. Photo by Andrea Bruce/The Washington Post
POP QUIZ: What's the maximum number of cars a Metrorail train can span?
Six? Nah, bigger.
Eight? Sure, if you're the kind of boringly practical thinker who's hemmed in by spacial relations, since eight is the maximum number of cars that can service a station platform. But this is America, hoss. Super-size it.
Twelve. Or at least that's how many cars Train 409 stretched when it chugged along the Blue Line on Sunday morning. According to The Post's Lena H. Sun, 409 giddy-upped from Largo all the way to Eastern Market before Metro employees noticed:
A preliminary investigation suggests that the mix-up occurred as the train was preparing to leave the Largo rail yard at 7:27 a.m. to begin its run to Franconia-Springfield. Metro officials think the regular six-car train might have rolled backward on an incline and hooked up with a six-car train behind it, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel.Since only eight cars could serve the platform, of course, those last four cars' doors likely opened into the yawning darkness of a Metro tunnel.
No injuries were reported, but the train operator is on administrative leave pending an investigation.
» "12 Cars Make Way Too Much Train" [WaPo]
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Addison Road
I can see how the extra cars might be hard to see in the tunnels. But what about the above-ground stations at Largo Town Center and Addison Road? Surely if the operator had been looking out along the train - as required when closing the doors - she would have noticed the extra cars!
Also, don't the 8-car trains only run during peak periods (and rarely on the blue line)? Even if the operator thought it was an 8-car train, the fact that it was Sunday morning should have tipped her off that something was amiss.
By Jeremy Portzer , Posted June 4, 2008 2:50 AM